Life of A Knight II: Meeting the Master
by Chairman LoneStar
Summary: A story of honor, adventure, penitence, and Keyblades? The Knight triplets find themselves face-to-face with the Keyblade Master himself, I think...OCs only in the beginning, gotta explain the story before it gets good. Also canon until KH2/Coded, so no knowledge of 3D goes into the making of this story.
1. The Story Begins

_Man, it's been a while since I wrote anything. After reading all these fanfics all over this site, I figured I should finally post my own on here. So...here goes nothing! _

_LoneStar: "OK, so this story, like every other, has a beginning, middle, and end. And like many other stories, it has prequels and sequels. Where this one starts is impossible to tell; I'll leave that for you all to figure out."_

_*****: "You're rambling again, LoneStar. Don't bore them before we start!"_

_LoneStar: "Shut up, you; you're lucky you're the main character...Before I forget, I don't own Disney, Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, or any of the characters or concepts thereof, only the and new weapons."_

**Life of a Knight: Meeting the Master**

Chapter I: The Story Begins...

Character Introduction!

Talis C.X. Knight

Age: 17

Height: 6' 1"

Physical Appearance: Green eyes, jet black hair (Riku-style), tanned, lean, broad-shouldered

Attire: Black jacket (similar in style to Judai in Season 4 Yu-Gi-Oh! GX), black jeans, mint green sleeveless undershirt, and black sneakers

Xaltis T. Knight

Age: 17 (but a minute older than Talis!)

Height: 6' 1.5"

Physical Appearance: Gray eyes, light brown hair (Zane Truesdale-style), also tanned with same body type

Attire: Green Organization XIII-style cloak with the Crest of the Royal Knights (star shaped like the top of the Organization symbol) on the back in white, white sleeveless undershirt, olive green pants, and olive green boots

Kalin C. Knight

Age: 17 (but a minute **younger **than Talis!)

Height: 6' 0"

Physical Appearance: Blue eyes, white hair (Seto Kaiba/Kalin Kessler-style), also tanned with same body type

Attire: Blue and white hoodie with the Crest of the Royal Knights on the front and back, dark blue undershirt and jeans, blue and white sneakers, and tattoo of the Crest on left arm (hidden by hoodie)

_~~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~~_

"Where am I? What is this place? And why is everything so quiet and glowing?"

Looking around, all this person sees is black, save for a glowing platform right below him with seven tangent circles of different sizes. The largest is a picture of him, dressed similarly to how he is now, in a black jacket with flared coattails, a green sleeveless undershirt, black jeans, and black sneakers. In the picture, he's holding his pride and joy, the sword Kaosuraito, a simply designed sword with checkerboard hilt and 44" blade, but very effective. The background of the picture is the castle of his homeland, the Kingdom of Hikari Lux Lucis, in a perfectly cloudless blue sky. In the smaller tangent circles lie pictures of his friends and family. His twin brothers, Kalin and Xaltis, respectively in blue and gray circles, share the same serious, focused expression. His sisters, Carla and Shania, in pink and purple circles, share the same happy yet hardened expressions of those who have fought hard to bring peace. In a smaller circle, colored white, lies his best friend and strongest ally, the Princess of Hikari Lux Lucis, Raina Lyte. However, the seventh circle, the one glowing most brightly, lies empty...(A/N 1)

"Can anyone hear me? If you can, why's that last circle empty?"

_Maybe it's for someone you haven't met yet._

"Who said that?"

_Forgot me already? I know we only just started liking each other again yesterday, but still, you'd think you'd remember your own brother, geez!_

"Oh, sorry about that, X, I forgot you were...here...where are you? And do you have any idea where we are?"

_Oh! My bad. _Xaltis seems to fade into view in front of Talis. "Heck if I know; I'm just as confused as you are, man." _Especially since I have to actively concentrate to stay solid right now...it's really weird._ "Guess we should just look around."

"Sounds good to me."

As the confused teens (I say teen because he's not even 18 yet) walk the perimeter of the platform, they continue to look at the pictures, memories flooding their heads of times past, ranging between battles, knight training, home life, and for Xaltis, his path before deciding to return home.

"_Hey, little bro,_" Xaltis asks, not realizing he didn't speak aloud, "_do you think we can go home after this little dream of ours?_"

"You think this is a dream, X? _It feels pretty real to me. The platform's real, the pictures are real, this sense of peace I'm feeling is real, even the fact that you're talking to me in my head feels real._"

Xaltis begins, "_Talking in your – holy crap, we're not talking out loud! _How is that possible?"

"**Anything is possible here, Xaltis, but that doesn't mean it's not real."**

Xaltis and Talis look around furtively. "Who said that?" Xaltis yells. "I know it wasn't Talis; now show yourself!" Talis draws Kaosuraito silently and swings it as if ready for battle.

"**Don't worry, Talis, Xaltis, I won't harm you; in fact, I'm here to help you and to show you why you're here. The platform before you is known as the Station of Awakening. When a hero is recognized for the amount of light in his or her heart, he or she is transported here to learn of what that status entails. Now, look at your sword, Talis."**

He did as she said and saw it bathed in a light of such blinding intensity that he had to drop it to shield his eyes from being burnt out. When he uncovered them, however, he saw something incredibly different about it; it was Kaosuraito no longer. "What happened to my sword, Voice?"

"**It has been transformed...into a weapon made from the purest light."**

For indeed, the sword had changed. It was smaller, more ornate, but similar to its original design. The hilt had changed to two irregular pentagons facing each other with the same crosshatching of Kaosuraito. The blade itself became gold with a black outline all around it and curved at the hilt into the shape of a heart. Off of the heart-shaped back end, the crossguard shaped itself into two wing-like extensions shaped like peapods with the same color scheme. The business end of the blade had another piece, shaped like his younger twin's initials. (A/N 2)

"It's beautiful, Tal!" Xaltis exclaims.

"What is it, Voice?" Talis queries.

"**Pick it up and find out..."**

"Kaosuraito..." As he picks it up, he speaks its former name one last time as another voice rings out inside his head.

"_No, Talis. It's a sign that I'm forgiven, that you and Kalin forgave me for hurting you all. The forgiveness I received from all of you manifested itself as this weird-shaped sword. We'll call it Knight's Absolution."_

"OK, then. _Absolution_ it is...now what is this thing, Voice?"

"**It's called a Keyblade, Talis. As I said, it is a weapon forged from the very light of the universe. With it, you can fight and release those called Heartless and Nobodies, creatures left behind by those that gave in or fell to the darkness in their hearts and therefore live without hearts and forms. Now look behind you." **

"What...?" Talis turned around to see a massive amount of insect-looking forms with yellow eyes and pure black bodies coming out of the ground. (A/N 3) "What...are these the Heartless?"

"_Guess it's time to fight, huh, buddy?" _

"Guess it is, brother." Talis held his new Keyblade tentatively as if to test how to best use it. "Hmm...maybe if I hold it just like my old sword?" From the hilt, he hoisted it up over his back as if carrying a 2x4. "Hey, this works! Heartless? No problem. Bring it on!" And with that, he ran to start fighting his new enemies.

"_Holy crap, Talis! How are you gonna fight all of these...what did the Voice call 'em...Heartless?"_

"What do you mean, I? You're helping, ya dip!"

"_What do you mean, I'm helping? I don't have one of those Keyblade things; only you do."_

Talis searched his mind, thinking for a solution in order for his brother to help in the fight. "Hey, Voice! You think you could get my brother here a Keyblade of his own? Does it work like that?"

"**Really, the choice is his. His heart has enough light to be a Wielder, but Xaltis, do you want the responsibility of being a Keyblade Wielder?"**

"If my brother can do it, then so can I. Besides, can't let him have all the fun around here, right?"

"**Can't argue with that," the voice said with a chuckle. "Search your heart for the light within and call it forth. This is how a Keyblade is truly formed." **

"Sounds easy enough. Call upon the light in my heart..." Xaltis closes his eyes and focuses. _Light in my heart, light in my heart. Sounds easier than it actually is..._

"Not to rush you, bro!" Talis yells as he swings at a couple of the Heartless, swiping through one, but missing the other as it jumps at him, slicing his arm. "Ow! But could you hurry that heart-searching thing? I could use some help!" More Heartless jump at Talis, slicing at his arms and legs, drawing blood.

"I'm trying here!" _Light in my heart. Light in my heart. _Xaltis, in his mind's eye, sees small white wisps, like a visible wind, curling around a ball-shaped black flame. _Is that it? Is that my heart's light? It looks...odd. Why is there so much black?_

"**You still have not yet come to grips with your own darkness, and as such, the light in your heart battles with the darkness; the darkness, being stronger because of your own decisions, is more prevalent, but does not completely extinguish your light because you won't let it."**

"_So does that mean I won't have a strong Keyblade until then?"_

"**Of course not! On the contrary! Your Keyblade is only as strong as your heart as a whole. In you, your Keyblade will just represent light being stifled by darkness because of the state of your heart. As the levels of darkness in your heart change, and as you accept your darkness, your Keyblade will change to match that change in your psyche."**

"_Alright. Let's try this out then." _Xaltis opens his eyes and calls out, "Come forth, weapon of light and dark. Aid me in this battle against these creatures of shadow. Come forth, weapon of my heart!"

Around Xaltis' right hand, a ball of light forms, with wisps of shadow crackling across it like electricity. The ball of light extends, first forming the shape of a castle chess piece as a guard around his hand. The base of the castle, instead of spreading out like the chess piece would, thins and sharpens to a point, extending beyond the normal length of a castle and forming a blue and jet-black blade in a similar fashion to _Absolution_. The cross-guard's wings, however, were shaped more like bird wings. The tooth of the key was shaped like his own initials.

"My Keyblade..." Through his head walks the name _Knight's Penitence_. "Penitence...fitting name for what I have to do, eh?"

"Sure, why not? It's your Keyblade. Now could you PLEASE help me out here?" Talis calls over from underneath the Shadows, his Keyblade barely keeping them at bay as he swipes at them from the center of the platform. Raw, bleeding scratches cover his exposed arms as he discarded his jacket a short time earlier.

"Coming, bro!" Xaltis charges forward and the Shadows, sensing another heart, turn from Talis to face him. "Get off my brother!" He slashes at a Shadow, missing one, but slicing through a couple more, since Shadows love to travel in packs. He slashes at a couple more, while two come from behind him and slash at his back, ripping his cloak near the crest. He falls forward a bit from the impact, cursing under his breath. "Rip my cloak, will you?" He spins in a wide arc, his Keyblade carving through the Shadows like butter. "Talis, you alright?"

Talis, on the other hand, hearing his brother fight, gains some more inner strength and fights off the Heartless that surround him, clearing a path to one end of the platform. "Yeah! Dang Heartless getting in my way. There are too many! You think we should, X?"

Xaltis, who has fought his way to the other side of the platform, responds, "I don't see why not, T; as you said, there are a lot of these things, and it's been a long while since we fought together..."

"Don't have to tell me twice. Prepare to lose!" The twins run at each other swinging their Keyblades as fast as possible, destroying countless Heartless in short order. Once they reach the center of the platform, Talis jumps over Xaltis, who slides under him, and they do the same to return to the other ends of the platform. But their Limit was not over yet; both knights struck the platform at the spots where they stood and then began to draw on the platform by dragging their Keyblades behind them, making a giant Crest of the Royal Knights. Finally, to end their Limit, they jump high in the air and yell "_Salus in Lux Lucis!_" at which time the drawing on the ground starts to glow. Both fly down to the platform and land heavily on their feet, swords crossed and light enveloping the platform, killing every Heartless in its path. (A/N 4)

When the light faded, nothing was left except the platform before the Heartless' arrival and the twins, breathing heavily, but with smiles on their faces. "Nice to see you haven't lost your touch, T. I knew you were holding back when you fought me."

"Same to you, big bro; nice job there."

"**Good job to both of you; you've passed your test, and now it's time to learn why exactly you've received Keyblades. As you both should already be aware, the war between the two factions in your Kingdom threatened to tear it apart, but you found a way to finally end it by joining together as one. Although you both disappeared soon after that moment, your friends took that "sacrifice" and made peace with one another. However, though there is peace once more in your home, the same cannot be said for the universe. Right now, others who also hold Keyblades as you do are fighting to defeat a great evil that threatens everyone's worlds. You two, as the Keybearers of your world, shall fight also to combat this evil."**

"Voice! It's you again! But, wait, a few questions first. One, why were **we **chosen to be Keybearers? I mean, sure, we indirectly brought peace to our world, but our family did all the work."

"Two, there are other inhabited worlds besides ours? And how come we haven't been affected by these events before?"

"**For your first question, you two were chosen because you have the strongest hearts. Keyblades, though weapons, are sentient and choose their Wielders. Only those of the strongest heart can control their power. Even though at one time, Xaltis succumbed to the darkness in his, he was able to come out of it thanks to you, Talis. **

"**And as for your other questions, yes, there are other worlds and the reason you haven't been affected by the events is because the evil I told you about didn't recognize your existence until the events of the past few months..."**

"Whoops...uhh, sorry about that, Talis."

"Don't worry about it, big bro; you were lost then. Plus, I don't think it's your fault if Voice's explanation is correct. But then, Voice, how do we fight this evil?"

"**Use your Keyblades, young warriors, and remember **_**vires quod lucis in pectoris**_**, the strength and light in your hearts, it will never fail you...as you say in your homeland, **_**Salus in Lux Lucis**_** (A/N 5). Now, goodbye for now, boys. Take care of your loved ones. When the time comes to fight, protect them. I may be back to teach you more, or you may learn it on your own, but for now, go back home."**

As soon as the voice faded, light surrounded the pair and carried them out of the Station of Awakening to an uninhabited part of their homeworld, Kage no Sabaku, the Shadow Desert. The darkest part of their homeworld, there are only two reasons to be in a place of this nature. One is to be away from everyone. The second is if one doesn't have a choice. But here they were, trying to get home to their family and friends.

"How do we get home from here again?"

"Good question, T...I actually don't quite remember."

"But, isn't this where the Castle was?"

"You mean, my Castle? Umm...I think so. There _are_ ruins here, but it has been a while, you know. You kinda blew it up, remember?"

"Oh, right...hehe, I forgot. Gotta love that Novus Form." (A/N 6)

So the twins walk aimlessly through the Shadow Desert, searching for a sign, a hint, anything to direct them back home. Suddenly, in the distance, Talis heard a low rumbling. "Do you hear that, X?"

"Hear what, T?"

It gets louder, and a cloud of dust starts traveling toward them. Talis points toward the dust. "That, do you hear that?"

"What the hell is that, T?"

Talis looks into the horizon and thinks back to his memories of before the Station. "No...way...no freakin' way! That's...that's..."

From the cloud of dust, a man rides up on a motorbike, but this is no ordinary motorbike. Colored green and black (remind you of anyone?), the bike has many secret compartments to hold all sorts of weapons and other miscellaneous items. On either side, the Crest of the Royal Knights is emblazoned in bright green. The man riding the motorbike looks just like Talis and Xaltis, only with blue eyes and white hair. He sports a dark blue T-shirt, blue jeans, and blue and white sneakers and his Royal Knight Crest tattoo is visible on his upper arm. As he pulls up, he stops on a dime, kicking up dust which spreads outwards from the bike. "_Salus in Lux Lucis_, brothers...never thought I'd find you two this quickly."

"Kalin? Did you get taller?" Xaltis laughs at his clever comment.

"Very funny, X, I was about to ask the same thing!"

Talis laughs at his brothers clowning each other and then realizes... "Hey, why are you riding my bike?"

"Well, someone had to ride it, and I certainly wasn't going to let any of the girls get a hold of this thing; you know how _they_ are."

"Well, did you at least bring a way for us to get back? We can't all fit on that thing."

"Of course! I'm not an idiot; I've been prepared for your return for a while, like I said." Kalin presses a button on the control panel of the bike and two compartments open, holding hoverboards. "I've spent every morning out here searching for you. You had to turn up sometime."

Kalin hops off of the motorbike and grabs the two hoverboards, handing one to Xaltis. "Here's mine...and one for you, X. T, I'd imagine you want to ride your bike back to the castle, right?"

"You know me well, brother..." Talis gets on his bike and smiles. "It's been a while, eh, old friend? Let's head home, bros! Hope you remember how to get back!" With that, Talis revs his engine and speeds off into the desert sands, with Kalin not far behind.

"Hey, wait a second...guys! I really don't remember how to get back!" Xaltis rushes to catch up with them as they fade into the distance.

_ ~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: If you don't realize where he is, you are not a true KH fan...

A/N 2: K.C.K. (for Kalin C. Knight)

A/N 3: The ever-stupid Shadow Heartless...ugh, they were such pests.

A/N 4: Their Limit move, _Eternus Lucis_.

A/N 5: Latin meaning "Safety in Light"

A/N 6: One of Talis' Drive Forms...Yes, I gave him Drives! Shoot me! LOL...

_Talis: "Hey look at that, LoneStar, you actually finished the first chapter! __**pretends to be an applauding audience**__ But why'd you make me so slow? I know what a Keyblade is!"_

_LoneStar: "Yeah, you do __**now**__! But you didn't then, remember? I know what I'm doing!"_

_Talis: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, just don't screw up my story. _

_LoneStar: "Hey! At least I remembered your bike!"_

_Talis: "Sure, sure, whatever...Anyway, we'd all like reviews, so don't forget to do so, and if you have any ideas for O.C.s or anything like that, feel free to send LoneStar a private message with your ideas. He'll be sure to credit you if he uses them." :D _


	2. Flashbacks Already?

_Talis: "Two stories at one time, LoneStar? Isn't that a little ambitious?"_

_Chairman: "Don't talk to me about ambitious, Knight. I'm telling your story, kid."_

_Talis: "But what does this have anything to do with Kingdom Hearts?"_

_Chairman: "First of all, hush. Second of all, it's not another story; it's a flashback chapter, explaining where the heck you all came from! So don't criticize my methods, you...or I'll sic your 'best friend' on you..."_

_Talis: "Fine...but you didn't make that scene yet. Chairman LoneStar doesn't own Disney, Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts, or any of the elements of this story that may or may not be related..." *sigh*_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter II: Flashbacks Already?

A dash to the left, a jump to the right, Talis ran through the castle, Kaosuraito drawn and ready for battle. All of a sudden, he stopped, hearing sobs coming from the monarch's bedchambers. "What...?" He walked slowly into the King's room, sword still drawn, but held more tentatively. "Who's in here? Answer me!" Out of the antechamber and into the main bedroom, he found the Princess, in tears at her father's bedside. "Princess, are you alright?"

She got up immediately and ran to him, burying her face in his chest. "Talis, it's just terrible! It's not fair! I'm...I'm not ready to be Queen!" **sobs **"There was so much...I had to learn...so much...he had to teach me..." The tears overwhelmed her and she gave in to her emotions, crying freely now.

"Why do you need to be...? No, it couldn't be that..." He turned to the bed of the King and his queries were answered; the King was dead, cut down in his own bed. "No, no, no, no! This isn't fair! How could the King be gone? Who could have done this to him, to take our leader from us like this in cold blood?" Talis began to cry, not in sadness as the Princess did, but rather in rage. "The person responsible for this shall pay dearly...this I swear, by my word as a Knight. Princess, please excuse me. And don't worry about a thing; you'll be a great Queen, just like your mother. You'll rule justly and fairly, and everyone will love you, because we already do. Keep your head up, because that's how the King taught us all to live, isn't that right?" With those words, Talis ran out of the room, eager to start searching for answers.

"Thank you, Talis. I'll remember your words, and take control of this kingdom. My father's legacy will never be tarnished." She looked to her father's bed one last time as she got up, standing resolute. "Wait a second, what's this?" She spotted a chain laying on the ground, sporting an odd but familiar charm, and picked it up slowly. "This is the symbol of...but that doesn't make any...I've got to tell someone..." She ran as quickly as she can out of the room.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Talis wakes up almost as quickly as he had fallen asleep, thinking back over the dream that seemed so real, for in fact, it was. "That day was one of the worst, no, the worst day ever. Not only did I find out that the King was murdered, but that the murderer was one of our own, my own brother, no less. I've had this dream every night for the past nine months, and even though it's all over now and X is back on the side of light, this dream still haunts me...but why? The worst is over, we're finally heading back home. We're just stuck in this godforsaken desert...which is so damn dark!"

_Go back to sleep, Talis! Yeesh!_

"X, hush, you've been asleep all night...stop being a lazy prick."

_Did you just call me a prick? I'm inside your mind, you know. I can screw stuff up in here bigtime!_

"Hence why I call you a prick; don't threaten me in my own mind. Don't make me come in there!"

_Bring it on, __little__ brother! _

"Oh, that's it! _**Rector mihi ut quis ago in meus mens."**_ (A/N 1)

_Hey, no fair! You're not allowed in here! This is my room! _

"It's my mind, big brother, or did you forget?" Talis finds himself at the Station of Awakening, or at least, a place that looks a lot like it, in his mind.

_The Station of Transcendence, Talis. See how the platform's green instead of blue? That's because it's my room in this jungle you call a mind. Here we can meet without interruption from anyone, which means I can kick your butt and spare you the embarrassment. _

"Are you sure this isn't to hide your shame once I kick your butt? How would it look, a professional knight getting his butt handed to him by his little brother, hmm?"

_Cut the trash talk. _Xaltis summons _Knight's Absolution_ and _Penitence_ to his hands. _Oh hey, look at that! I can use both! Which leaves you with nothing, I presume? _

"Grr...stealing my Keyblade? And here I thought you were reformed...but you do have a point. I wonder...can I...?"

Kaosuraito appears in his left hand and another of his old swords, Nensho, appears in his right. "Hello, old friends, nice to see you again. Will you fight with me today?"

"Yes, we will, Master Knight. Just point us in the right direction." Nensho is a white blade, sporting flame designs of red and orange.

_Your swords talk to you? What the hell? _

"_We talk too, Keybearer; you just never bothered to say hello!" _

_What? Absolution? Penitence? _

"_Penny, if you please. My formal name is far too...formal." _

"_Actually, that's just for Penny. I prefer my formal name. Anyway, yes, we talk as well; we're connected to your mind. And since your mind is connected to your brother's, he can hear us, too, which is why you heard his swords talk." _

_This is very confusing...I need a minute. _

"Well, you can't have it, X. You called me out and now you're gonna get it, right here in the Station of Transcendence, and it's gonna end a little differently to our last battle, brother, but not by much. No holding back, but no death blows, got it?"

_Bring it on, kid; we've danced this dance before._

Talis runs at Xaltis with a shout. "Time to show you why I defeated you the first time! Nensho Hiko!"

"Yes, Master Knight!"

Nensho begins to glow red-hot and ignites, upon which Talis throws it into the air and jumps to follow. "フライング強度 の火災に!" (A/N 2) Talis lands on Nensho, which had become a flaming board, with Kaosuraito held in its normal position over his back. "Come on!" He launches himself at Xaltis, swinging Kaos as if signing his name in the air. "No stopping this fire!" He slams into Xaltis and slashes him with Kaos, then jumps off of Nensho as it slashes him on its own. Kaos, then Nensho, Kaos, then Nensho, in an almost endless cycle of slashes. "This will be your end!" Talis lands, with Kaos and Nensho crossed in his hands, as Xaltis lay smoldering on the ground. (A/N 3)

_OK, OK, I give! Now get this fire off of me!_

"Fine..." He releases his swords, snaps his fingers, and the fire dissipates. "Now, do you remember why I beat you last time? I'm stronger than you, X. Don't ever forget it. _**Solvo mihi ex meus mens.**_"(A/N 4) Talis exits the Station, leaving X to brood on his latest defeat, which, even at the hands of his brother, stings quite harshly.

_How did he beat me...again? _Absolution and Penitence come to his hands, this time as points of reflection. _Even with my new power, I still can't beat him...just like last time..._

_I'm at the mercy of my own memory now. Great, like I really needed to relive this. _Xaltis' mind returns to the last time he and his brother faced each other in combat, which ended in a similar fashion.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Talis glows with green fire as his irises grow to cover the entire stretch of his eyes. The short black jacket he wears grows longer and the edges change to look more haphazard, as if ripped. Kaosuraito glows white and changes shape, first becoming wider and more curved at the blade, then splitting at the hilt. "Kaiso...help me save my brother...X! You may be a traitor, but you're still my brother, and I will bring you back home, conscious or not!"

Xaltis summons a sword to his hand with a dark overtone, the blade thin but straightened. The hilt is shaped like a black flower with dagger-like extensions and a chain from the back end with the Crest of the Royal Knights at the end of the chain. "Hey, Talis, say hello to _Knight's Demon_, the tool for your destruction! You'll rue the day you set foot in my domain!" X runs as fast as he can, then swings Demon at Talis, who blocks easily. Both attack each other with the finesse and strength of evenly matched, seasoned swordsmen. "Talis...I can't believe you still haven't cut your hair! You look like a girl!"

"Ng...quit talking about my hair, yours is worse! At least mine is straight! Yours is so wild and crazy!"

They separate and come at each other again, harder than before.

"Seems like we're evenly matched, eh, Talis?" Xaltis seems to be gaining a bit more ground now.

"Not a chance, X!" Talis jumps back and his blade glows blue for the slightest fraction of a second. "Blizzaga!"

Xaltis is hit by the iced attack and falls to the ground with a frozen arm. "Damn...ng, cheater!" He breaks free of the first ice attack and then comes running at Talis again.

"Not cheating, winning. Blizzaga!" Another ice blast freezes Xaltis' other arm. "Blizzara!" A third freezes his legs to the ground.

"Now, my dear brother, time for you to face the light of judgment. Kaiso! Shinzui!"

"Yes, Master Knight!" An orb of light begins to charge at Kaiso's tip and Talis points it towards the sky as if he planned to take all the light from the stars as well. Kaiso then absorbed the light gathered there and stretched to a good 4 times its original length. "Brother! Accept the light!" Talis makes a horizontal slash in his direction, then vertical, then right-slant, then left-slant. He does about five or six cycles of this before pointing Kaiso to the sky again and firing a beam of light into the heavens. "What, what are you doing, Talis? Where is that going?" "Oh, you'll see." He turns his back to Xaltis, and says in the quietest of voices: "Final Shinzui..." The light that Talis shot into the air reveals itself and explodes, letting loose countless arrows of light which all head straight for Xaltis. (A/N 5)

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" The innumerable amount of arrows pierce Xaltis in all directions, leaving a blinding light, followed by a giant cloud of dust which enveloped the two of them.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Back in the Station of Transcendence, Xaltis reflects longer on the last two fights with his brother. _That last battle, I was so full of darkness, I couldn't see straight to know that it was wrong to fight Talis...and I paid the price. But is my heart still so full of darkness now, after I've returned to the side of light? I don't understand it... _

The next morning comes, with Xaltis still deep in thought, but Talis and Kalin seem quite well rested.

"Morning, brothers!" Kalin greets his older triplets.

"Morning, Kalin! Morning, X!" Talis responds.

"Morning, guys," Xaltis greets half-heartedly.

"You alright there, X? You can't even stay solid!"

"I'm fine, Kal, just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night. Maybe I'll pack up my hoverboard and get some sleep inside T's mind some more...is that cool with you, bro?"

"Sure, no problem, X; go right ahead!"

"Thanks, man, I owe you one." Xaltis fades completely and then Talis glows green for a second, signifying Xaltis' return to Talis' mind.

"I wonder what's wrong with X, Kal."

"Nightmare, maybe? How about you ask him instead of me, dude? You do share a mind, remember?"

"Right...be right back. _**Rector**_."

Talis takes a trip back to the Station of Transcendence to visit his brother and find out what the problem is.

"X, are you OK? You seem incredibly lost."

_I...I just don't know, Talis. It's like this. When we fought in the Shadow Citadel, I felt so powerful, like nothing could beat me, and when you did beat me, I realized that darkness was not helping me. But then last night, when we fought again, I felt like I was right back there, in that dark place. I couldn't even put a scratch on you, but you basically obliterated me. If you brought me out of there, then where is my strength?_

"X, the strength you're looking for isn't anything I can give you; you have to find it on your own. I mean, I can help you, but only so far. The rest is up to you, and how much you are willing to work to find what's in your heart. That's where it is, man."

_My heart? Excuse me if I sound ungrateful for the advice, but that sounds pretty corny, T. _

"Yeah, it does, but it's true. Only then can you access the power that hides inside of you. And once you find it, I have a feeling you'll be pleasantly surprised. You're far more powerful than you know." Talis starts to walk to a door that appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

_Talis?_

"Yeah?"

_Thanks...I needed that. I'm gonna get some sleep now. Wake me up in case of anything, OK?_

"Sure, no problem, man. _**Solvo.**_" Talis walks out of the door and then wakes up from his mind.

"Is he alright, T?"

"Yeah, we talked it out. He's good, but I'm gonna let him get some sleep. Ready to keep moving?"

"Let's do it. It's still a long way back to the castle, so the sooner we start the better." Kalin starts packing up the camp. "Hey, open up Reminiscence for me, so I can dump this stuff in there." Talis opens yet another compartment on his motorcycle's shell and Kalin puts all the supplies inside it. Once he finished, he closed the compartment. "OK, done! Time to go!"

Talis swings his leg over the left side of the bike to get on and Kalin launches his hoverboard, ready for takeoff. "Let's get outta here."

Talis revs Reminiscence's engine and takes off in the direction of the castle, followed by, or rather, flanked by Kalin. "Hey, bro, while I was gone, did you ever learn how fast Reminiscence goes?"

"You mean it goes faster than you're pushing it now?"

"By far, Kalin. Just watch..._**deprehendo ventus quod solvo vinculum secundum volo." **_(A/N 6) As he speaks these words, Reminiscence glows with a faint blue light. Yet another compartment opens, this time on the rear of Reminiscence, revealing twin rockets which propel Talis and his bike at impressive speeds.

"What the...hey! Get back here!" Kalin presses a hidden button on his board with his left foot, which causes his board's speed to increase as well, but it takes quite a while for him to catch up to Talis, who is suddenly stopped in front of what looks like a giant black cloud. "Talis, what is that?"

"It can't be...not here...already?"

Xaltis wakes with a start. _Heartless? Here? How can that be? Talis, I told you to wake me up if anything. __This__ would be the anything!_

"Xaltis, _**e**__**xsisto privatus ex mens carcer. **_"(A/N 7)

"Talis. Kalin." Xaltis summons Penitence. "You ready to do this?"

Talis summons Absolution, and turns to Xaltis. "Of course, this is what we got these for, isn't it?"

Kalin summons another sword, similar in design to Nensho, but sporting a blue and purple color scheme, as opposed to Nensho's red and orange. "Hello, Ensho. Will you fight alongside me today?"

"Yes, Master Knight."

"Then I guess I'm ready, too, for whatever that is."

"Well, then let's do it, shall we?"

The cloud approaches much faster than before, revealing itself to be a giant cloud of Shadows and taller, more slender versions of the Shadow. The Neoshadow. Another type of Heartless that approached them was actually flying, but with no wings. How that was possible, the brothers had no idea. It had the telltale antennae of a Neoshadow, but was not quite a Neoshadow, for it had armor and a body more like a human's. The armor was black and had an odd symbol on the front that looked like a heart with some kind of extension.(A/N 8) There were black and yellow boots on all of the flying Heartless as well.(A/N 9) But the yellow eyes were all the same.

"Those yellow eyes, they're so lifeless, Talis. It's like they have no sentience about them," Kalin comments, as this is the first time he's seen Heartless.

"I agree; I find it quite scary..."

"Then let's take 'em out so we can stop seeing it, eh?"

"X, X, X, ready to start swinging already?"

Xaltis looks back at Talis with eyebrows raised. "Yes...that's kinda why I have my Keyblade in my hand."

"Fine, then go for it!"

"I thought you'd never say so." Xaltis lets loose one heck of a battle cry then throws himself into the throng of Shadows.

"Guess I better go in too." Kalin lets loose his own battle cry and jumps into battle against the Neoshadows.

"Which means that you flying ones are all mine. Hmm, kinda wish I could fly, too." Talis lets loose his battle cry and heads into battle against the Sky Knights.

Kalin looks at his massive cloud of adversaries with determination in his eyes. "I don't know what you things are, but I know you're not friendly. I'm gonna kick the darkness out of all of you with help from the stars!"

The sky around the battlefield suddenly gets dark as Kalin's eyes go completely white. "Ensho Hoshi!" "Yes, Master Knight!" The heavenly stars shine down on Kalin as he speaks in a meditative trance. "The light of the heavens rains down on those who threaten the safety of others. To eliminate this threat is what I've come to do." Kalin throws Ensho into the sky and it comes back down like a shooting star to where he stands. He jumps to meet it and slams it bladefirst into the ground and balances on the end of the hilt. He moves his hands as if directing an orchestra and each time he brings his arms down, stars come from the sky to destroy Heartless. More and more motions with his arm bring more and more stars down, filling the arena with light. Finally, as the onslaught seems to be finished, he steps down seemingly on air and gently removes his sword from the ground. In one grand sweeping motion, Kalin spins in a circle with Ensho pointed at his enemies, releasing the light that struck the ground from the stars. "That's the end!" The remaining Heartless in his portion of the battlefield fade into darkness as the light consumes them. (A/N 10)

Meanwhile, on Xaltis' end of the battlefield, the Shadows were far more numerous than the Neoshadows Kalin fought. "Damn these things!" He slashes through one. "Stupid Heartless!" He slices through another. "Where are all of them coming from?" He lunges through a third. "It's about time I use a different approach. Penny!" "Yeah, X?" "I'm sending you for a ride, OK?" "Sure? Where are you taking me?" "You'll see! I wonder if this still works. _**Effingo!**_"

Xaltis makes nine clones of himself, which divides his section of the battlefield into three diamonds, with him standing at what would be the first vertex of the first diamond. "Didn't your mothers tell you crime doesn't pay?" He throws Penitence at one of his clones, the one directly across from his position, which sends a stream of light that mows down all the Shadows in its path. "Yes! Pass it on!" X-Clone #1 sends 'Penny' flying towards another of the clones on the same diamond, with the same effect. Over and over in that diamond until all of those Heartless were gone. "Haven't taken the hint yet?" X-Clone #1 passes the Keyblade over to the next diamond, where the same process occurred starting with X-Clone #4. X-Clone #4 shouts at the end of that sequence, "Diamond complete! Passing to Seven!" X-Clone #4 passes the torch to X-Clone #7, who completes the sequence in his diamond. "Process complete! Returning Penny to X-Original!" He tosses Penitence high into the air and the Original Xaltis jumps in the air to meet it while re-absorbing all his clones. "Ready, Penny?" "I think so, X! Let's do it!" "Time to get punished!" Xaltis throws Penitence in a wide arc for one final onslaught against the Shadows. Penitence returned to hover over Xaltis' head, spinning rapidly. "Told you crime doesn't pay." He finishes as the light envelops the arena. (A/N 11)

Talis took on the Sky Knight Heartless with a bit more difficulty than his brothers. "Stupid flying Heartless. Firing all this magic is tiring me out!" While he cut down quite a bit of the Sky Knights with his mage power, there were still quite a lot of them left to destroy. With one final "Thundaga!", Talis fell to one knee in exhaustion.

"Talis!" His brothers call out to him and run towards him from alternate directions.

"Kalin! X! They're too strong!"

Kalin reaches his side first. "Nothing's too strong for us, man. Not when we work together."

Xaltis reaches his brothers. "Or did you forget? We're the Knight Brothers! Sworn protectors of the Crown! These Heartless are small potatoes!"

Talis gets back up. "You're right, guys. Let's get rid of the Heartless, Knight style!"

Talis, Kalin, and Xaltis each face different directions and start walking slowly until they form a semi-large triangle. On the ground around them, a pattern similar to the platform at the Station of Awakening appears, only with three tangent circles instead of seven. Each circle held a Knight at its center. Talis begins to speak. "We, the Knight brothers of the Kingdom of Hikari Lux Lucis, in order to protect the kingdom previously named and the citizens thereof..." Talis' circle glows as Kalin continues the speech. "...do solemnly swear to always uphold the positions of Knights of the Royal Court, to enforce the laws set in place by those who came before..." Kalin's circle glows as Xaltis finishes the speech. "...and also swear to always remember the words engraved on our castle, every building, and in our hearts..." Xaltis' circle glows as they speak the motto of the Kingdom. _"Salus in Lux Lucis!"_ All three circles are glowing incredibly brightly and the brothers are floating on level with the Heartless. Each points his sword (or Keyblade) in a separate direction and follows it faster than the eye can see to slash at the many Sky Knights. After who knows how many slashes, the brothers land standing facing each other, Kalin, then Talis, and finally Xaltis, and cross swords in the center of the glowing circles. The light emanating from all of them destroys the five or six Heartless barely hanging on after that attack. (A/N 12)

The sky clears after the Limit, or rather, after the Limits destroyed all of the Heartless that came in their direction and the brothers began to celebrate, overjoyed at their victory. However, something was a little different.

"X, your robe! It's white!"

Xaltis looks down at himself. His formerly green robe was indeed now white with golden accents, and the Crest of the Royal Knights on the back was golden as well. Even the clothes underneath are now white. (A/N 13) "Oh snap! It is! How...?" Then he looks down at his Keyblade, which also changed. "Whoa...what's this?" The Keyblade he held in his hand is now more strealined, with sharper edges and a castle-shaped hilt.

"I believe this one's called _Evolution_, X. You finally reached what I was telling you about earlier; you found that power that was hidden inside of you. Congratulations, big brother. Your mind is finally clear. I'm proud of you."

"As am I, X. Just wait until we get home and we can show the girls!"

"Right! We have to get home! Hey, look!" Xaltis points into the distance. "Is that what I think it is?"

Just over the horizon was a lone spire, the tallest of the spires on the castle that the Knights called home.

"It is! Our castle! We're closer to home than I thought!" Let's go, guys!" The three run to their respective vehicles and rode off into the setting sun, eager to get home to their family and friends.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: Latin meaning "Guide me to what lives in my mind."

A/N 2: Kanji – Flying on the fires of strength!

A/N 3: One of Talis' solo Limits, _Nensho Hiko._

A/N 4: Latin meaning "Release me from my mind."

A/N 5: Another of Talis' solo Limits, _Ratio Lucis._

A/N 6: Latin meaning "Overtake the wind and release the bonds behind speed."

A/N 7: Latin meaning "Be released from the mind's prison."

A/N 8: The Heartless Emblem, and for those who don't know, that means that these guys are not Purebloods.

A/N 9: Sky Knight Heartless

A/N 10: Kalin's solo Limit, _Surculus Astrum._

A/N 11: Xaltis' solo Limit, _Vitium quod Ultionis._

A/N 12: Trio Limit,_ Vinculum per Frater._

A/N 13:Drive Form_ Kuriamaindo._

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Talis: "Well, you did it, LoneStar! You got us home! Sure you almost killed us with Heartless, but that's OK, 'cuz I got a new Limit!"_

_Chairman: "You're lucky too, 'cuz I didn't plan it that way. And besides, your brothers got Limits too. You even have a Combined Limit! And X has a Drive!"_

_Xaltis: "That's my __Drive__? Sweetness...Thanks, Chairman!"_

_Talis: "What? It's his __Drive__? How come?"_

_Chairman: "Because 1. I say so. and 2. He worked for it. X needs something to separate himself from you as a main character. Even though he can't do the Drive without you, it's to show his power and growth, even in such a short time."_

_Talis: "Fine, fine, I accept. Congrats, big brother. Now, Chairman! Don't you have some things to say to your readers?"_

_Chairman: "Actually, yes I do. Thanks! Hey everyone! First off, I want to thank everyone who read Chapter 1 and even more thanks to the reviewers." _

_To VampireRoxas: Don't be too mad at Talis, that's just how he is. And I have just the character to keep him in line soon enough ;). _

_Chairman: "Secondly, I'm still looking for ideas for any element of this story, including for the main adventure, but especially for Limits, whether solo or in partnerships, so send me any ideas in P.M.s and I'll be sure to credit if I use them. Actually, I'll credit you whether I use them or not, because all ideas are equally important. Just keep on reading and I'll keep on writing! Love you all!"_


	3. Back Home Again

_Chairman: "Here we are again with Chapter III fresh off of the keyboard...haha Keyboard (awesome concept by DarthKingdom btw)"_

_Talis: "Seriously? Stop it with the jokes, LoneStar. You're stinkin' up the place."_

_Chairman: "Be nice, Talis! Our readers asked for it! You don't wanna disappoint Vampire Roxas, do you?"_

_Talis: "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, LoneStar. I'll be nice from now on. Chairman LoneStar doesn't own Disney, KH, Square Enix, or any of the ideas, concepts, or characters thereof, but he does own me and my brothers!"_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter III: Back Home Again...

Character Introduction!

Carla S. Knight

Age: 16

Height: 5' 8.75"

Physical Appearance: dark hair (Mai Valentine-style), brown eyes, fair-skinned

Attire: pink denim jacket and pants, white undershirt, pink boots

Shania C. Knight

Age: 16

Height: 5' 9"

Physical Appearance: same as Carla (hair more reminiscent of Carly Nagisa from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's)

Attire: same outfit as Carla, but in purple

Raina L. Hikari

Age: 19

Height: 5' 8"

Physical Appearance: brown back-length wavy hair, green eyes, fair-skinned

Attire: Royal: full-length white dress with ornate design, white shoes

Casual: white jacket, white sleeveless undershirt, white pants, white boots

Markos Hikari

Age: 45

Height: 6' 4"

Physical Appearance: jet black (graying at the roots) (Duke Devlin-style), dark-skinned, brown eyes

Attire: Training Grounds: black jeans, black shirt, and black metal bracer

Casual: same without bracer, and black jacket (Kyosuke Kiryu-style [Crash Town])

Cameron Hikari

Age: 14

Height: 5' 8"

Physical Appearance: same hair as Markos, but completely black. Otherwise exactly alike in appearance

Attire: Training: gray sleeveless t-shirt, gray jeans, gray metal bracer

Casual: gray short-sleeved oxford and same gray jeans

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

The castle was just as beautiful as they remembered, with spires reaching seemingly to infinity, each decorated with white and baby blue floral designs. Beyond the castle lay an illustrious courtyard, extending in a radius of approximately two hundred yards around, spotted with topiaries of monarchs past. In the center of the beautiful garden, there stands two statues of the most recent king and queen of Hikari Lux Lucis, Dax and Raya, the parents of the current Queen. Outside the castle courtyard on the left side, there is a wide, winding road leading to the training grounds and battle arena, where rookie knights are hard at work training and elder knights are sparring and practicing. On the right side lay the Knight workshop, where the Knight siblings keep their vehicles, weapons, and whatever else they need. Beyond the castle gates lay two roads: one to the main town, one to the Shadow Desert. And this second road is upon which the triplets returned home...together.

First comes Talis, riding up on his motorcycle, Reminiscence, with a cloud of dust flying up behind him. "I'm finally home...it's more beautiful than I remember...I wonder if anything has changed."

He rides on and his brothers come up behind him soon after, X's cloak back to its normal green color now.

"Was Arceo always this beautiful, Kalin, or is it just how long I've been away?"

"Well, we've done a little improvement since you've been gone, so it may just be that...it definitely is a beautiful sight, though."

"I can't wait to see how everything's changed since I've been gone."

"You'll be pleasantly surprised, brother, and there are some people who will be super-surprised to see you. Now come on!" Kalin takes off on his hoverboard through the castle gates, followed quickly by Xaltis, deep in thought.

_My actions caused so much pain, yet so many greater things...I can't continue to berate myself over this. It's foolish...I must move on like everyone else has._

Meanwhile, behind the castle walls, the Knight sisters make their daily patrol walks through the halls of the castle Arceo. "Carla, can we spar later? This patrolling is quite monotonous."

"Shania, you know the patrols are necessary ever since...you know..."

"Yeah...I know, the death of the King and the loss of two of our brothers. The story never gets old. What I don't understand is why we haven't gone looking for them instead of just standing around! They're our brothers, for Pete's sake!"

"Shania...I know you miss Talis and Xaltis. Don't you think I do too? But we can't stay moping all the time; we've gotta move on. That's what they would want..."

"What who would want, Carla?" A familiar motorcycle rides up the stairs, launches into the air, and screeches to a halt directly before them. The sisters are too much in shock to even speak. "Carla? I asked a question...hello?"

"I see you and I hear you, but I don't believe it...Talis?"

"Hola, little sister, how's it going?"

"Talis!" Shania runs to him and gives him a 'kid sister' hug. "Where have you been, you jerk? We've been waiting for you forever!" She hits him upside the head.

"Hey! Hey! I don't get an 'Are you OK?' or a 'Is everything alright?' Gosh...you'd think I'd get more gratitude for getting our family back together..."

As soon as he finished that sentence, Kalin and Xaltis rode up behind him on their hoverboards. "Did someone say 'family'? Oh, hey, little sisters, how you doing?"

"What...what is this? We walk around one morning, and all of a sudden, all three of our brothers are back?"

"Kalin, how did you find them so quickly?"

"It wasn't that difficult, really. It was just a matter of riding around the Shadow Desert for TWO WEEKS! Quickly? Haha, it was sheer luck that I found these two walking around out there in that heat and darkness...why is it so dark out there anyway?"

"I can answer that!" The singsong voice that answered Kalin's question was followed by the Queen of Hikari Lux Lucis and close friend of the Knight family, Raina, dressed in her royal gown. "Queen Raina at your service! About that Shadow Desert issue...it's a long story and a lot to take in. By the way, I have a new job for you, Kalin. We have a guest coming from..." Raina looks at Talis and Xaltis. "Umm...am I seeing triple? Because, from what I remember, there's only one of you, and that's you, Kalin."

The triplets circle the Queen as Talis speaks. "Such a shame..." He casts a glance at his brothers before looking back at the Queen. "So she becomes Queen and forgets her best friend?" He clutches his chest as if in pain. "I'm hurt, Rai, really hurt...after I fought this guy," as he points at Xaltis, "because he almost killed you, you forget me?"

Xaltis shoves him a little. "Hey, hey, hey! Don't bring me into this because of your little lovers' spat! As for her not remembering me, I could care less; she's not **my **girlfriend." X snickers as he makes that last comment.

Talis casts a darker look at his brother and replies, "She's **not** my girlfriend! She's my **best **friend!"

Raina steps super-close to him and whispers into his ear. "Best friend, huh? That's not what you said the night before we went after your brother, now is it, Talis?"

_I heard that! _

What do you mean, you heard that? How'd you hear that?

_Being outside your body doesn't break the connection our minds have, T. What happened the night before you came after me, huh? Huh?_

Shut up! Nothing happened!

_That's not what the Queen just said...you two were an item, weren't you? _

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

_You two did the do...ohhh Talis, you dog, you!_

What the...? No, hell no! You're crazy! I would never mess with the Queen that way!

_I searched your mind...you may not have done it, but you have most definitely thought it, over and over and over again...dude, you know she wants you. _

Shut up and...

"...get outta my head!" Talis wakes out of his reverie to find five pairs of eyes staring at him.

"Talis, are you OK, little brother?" Xaltis asks, with a wink in his eye.

"Shut up, X, before you go back in the cage again," Talis responds with a more malicious look in his eye, to which Xaltis straightens up immediately.

Meanwhile, their companions watch the exchange with interest. "What do you think is going on between our brothers, ladies?" Kalin asks his two sisters.

"Who cares? I wanna know what's going on with Talis and the Queen!" Shania squeals in delight.

"Shania, that's none of our business...but I definitely think there's something going on; that much is obvious," Carla notes in a dry tone. "That little aside between the two of them was far too secretive, and there's no reason for that otherwise."

"So, all we have to do is find out what that is, right?"

"Sensibly, yes, but I don't want that to be the end of the story, and I doubt you two want that either, am I right, little sisters?"

"Duh!" Carla and Shania answer in unison. "Get us answers, Kalin!"

"OK, OK, I will! Yeesh!" He walks to the arguing pseudo-couple to get his instructions from the Queen, mumbling to himself. "I tell you, having little sisters is a pain in my butt...but at least the family's back together."

At the other side of Kalin's self-venting session were the arguing duo, Talis and Queen Raina. "Gimme a break, Rai, I just got home! Can I go sleep for two days?"

"Excuse me, Talis, but you have a job to do. Did you forget your oath? You know, those couple phrases you spoke seven years ago when you started your training?"

"Of course I didn't forget, and don't you dare call on my oath in this argument. It's because of my oath that I was gone for two weeks, remember?"

"Right, right, when you 'defended' me from your brother...whatever, stop making excuses for shirking your duties." Her voice is scathingly sarcastic as she berates him.

"Shirking my...oh, that's it. I'm going to the garage. Kalin! Talk to your Queen, I'm done here." With that, he turns around on his heel, jumps on his bike, and rides back down the stairs.

Raina turns on her own heels to come face-to-face with Kalin, who is quite confused at the exchange that just took place. "Don't look at me, Queen Raina. I just came to find out what you wanted me to do."

"Oh, that...right, umm, go to the training grounds and see if Markos needs your help with anything. I haven't gotten the chance to go there myself since I became Queen and I'd love to hear about any rising stars, so to speak."

Kalin salutes and nods. "Yes, ma'am! I'll do it right away!" Secretly, Kalin is just excited to get back to the training ground to see his old friend, mentor, and swordmaster extraordinaire. "Hey, X! You wanna come with me?"

"Sure, anything to get away from this mess...see you around, little sisters! Queen Raina, nice seeing you again!" Xaltis and Kalin run off down the stairs.

"Hey, Queenie?" Shania sneaks up behind Raina to question her. "What's going on between you and my brother?"

"Whatever are you talking about, Nia?" Raina pretends to be totally clueless.

"You know very well what she's talking about, Lady Raina." Carla falls into step on Raina's other side. "Don't think we didn't notice that little aside you two had. Now what's up between you and our brother?"

"Again, Carla, I have no idea what you or Nia are speaking of. I was simply being discreet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to. Good day to you two." The Queen rushes quickly away, hoping to hide her growing blush.

Shania calls after her. "It better not be any business in our brother's room!" She and Carla hi-five. "It's like she thinks we're stupid or something!"

"She knows we know, which is why she ran away so fast...don't worry, we'll catch them soon enough, Nia. Now how about that spar you wanted earlier?"

"Sweet! Let's go!" The twin sisters run down the stairs which everyone seems to leave from to head to the battle arena near the training grounds.

Meanwhile, in the garage, Talis is working on cleaning his bike. "It's been a while since we rode that fast, hasn't it, Reminiscence?" He sighs as he looks back on the many times he rode his motorbike. One time in particular sticks on his mind. "That's right, I did have you then, didn't I? When I took Queen Rai out for a ride, but at that time, she was just Princess Rai. She was much nicer then and a lot more fun to be around. I wonder why she was so harsh to me earlier...it's not like I meant to disappear like that..."

"But you did, and you didn't even try to contact anyone, you jerk!"

"What?" Talis looks over his bike to see the Queen in the doorway, eyes narrowed yet fierce. "What do you want? Come to yell at me some more?"

"Yes, I did. First of all, I want an explanation for what the heck that was upstairs!"

"What are you talking about? First you come at me all flirty and junk, talking about the conversation we had before we left that time, and then you start yelling at me for disappearing! What was that, I ask you?" Talis is now on his feet, staring down the Queen with just as much fire in his eyes. "Explain to me why the hell you're mad! You act like it was my choice to stay gone for that long! I didn't even know where I was most of the time!"

"It doesn't matter! You were supposed to be here! Doing your job! Protecting the Kingdom!"

"Wait a second...this isn't just about me not coming back with you...you missed me. You thought I was dead and you missed me! Admit it!"

"Don't flatter yourself, little boy. You're not that special," she counters.

"Really? Then why are you here?" he shoots back.

"For the exact reason I stated earlier. To yell at you some more."

"Well, had your fill? Good, now get out, and leave me to my business."

"You mean, talking to your bike? You treat that thing like it was a woman or something."

"It's treated me better than any woman has, so why not? What does that have to do with anything we're talking about anyway?"

"It's just weird, Talis. It's a vehicle; it can't talk back to you."

"Well, sometimes you don't want to be talked to; you just want to be heard. Reminiscence does that for me, so excuse me if you can't quite grasp that. Now, if you have nothing else to say, please leave. You may be my friend, but you're also the Queen, so please leave before I do something I'll regret either way."

"Fine, I'll leave, but none of that calling me back crap."

"Trust me, I won't."

"Hmph!" The Queen turns on her heel and leaves just as quietly as she came.

"Why is she so insufferable as of late? It's like I don't even know her anymore." Talis goes back to cleaning his bike. "Why does it seem like you're always the only one to understand me, Reminiscence?" Talis walks to the back of the garage and presses a hidden button, which reveals a set of hi-tech tools. "I'm gonna give you an upgrade to get my mind off of this nonsense." He picks up a tool that looks a lot like a spanner and turns the knob, making it known that it's also a blowtorch. "Time to go to work!"

Back with the other Knight brothers, who are racing to the training grounds, Kalin's far ahead on his hoverboard. "You can't beat me there if you can't even catch me, X!" He speeds up his hoverboard.

"Don't count me out just yet, Kal! I've got some surprises up my sleeve!" And under his breath, he mutters, "Or rather my sleeves..." He points his arms behind him and says one word. "Aero..." Wind pours from both of his sleeves, which propels him to catch up with Kalin. "Oh hey, would you look at that? I caught up with you! Oh, and by the way?"

Kalin looks at him out of the side of his hair. "What, X?"

"I've got one word for you: Aerora." X shoots out ahead of Kalin, who stops for a second to gather his bearings. "What just happened?"

All of a sudden, X reappears in front of him. "You just got passed, that's what happened. Bye-bye! Aerora!" X takes off again, leaving Kalin dumbfounded for the second time.

"What am I standing here for? Get back here!" Kalin jumps on his hoverboard and steps on the accelerator button, hoping to catch up with his speeding brother.

X laughs back at him. "Haha! Come and get me, Kalin!" The training ground and battle arena looms on the horizon as Xaltis fast approaches it. "Looks like I'm getting here first." He rides his hoverboard through the open arches of the training ground and brakes almost immediately once he sees what he interrupted.

A voice from out of nowhere rings out. "Next lesson, boys! Expect the unexpected! Attack the intruder!"

"What the? I'm not an intruder!" The knights-in-training look hesitant to attack when they hear this.

"I said, next lesson! Attack, trainees!"

The in-training knights have no choice but to obey. "Sir, yes, sir!" The first wave of about twenty or so charge Xaltis.

X mutters under his breath. "I swear, I can't cut a break. _Kuriamaindo!_" The green robe turns white again, with the golden Crest of the Royal Knights on the back and _Knight's Evolution_ in his hand. "Can I call you Evo?"

"Actually, no, you can't, because I'm a female Keyspirit. The name's Eva (A/N 1). Now, I think you should turn your attention to the guys attacking us."

"I like the way you think, Eva." Xaltis takes position, Keyblade held above his head, pointed out at his attackers, knees bent (which one can't really see since his cloak covers them), hood covering his face as usual, but eyes focusing on one trainee in particular, making a target in his mind. "Let's do this."

The wave of trainees that first rushed at him now gather in a circle around him, each waiting on one another to attack the unfamiliar intruder. Finally one steps forward, a kid not much younger than him, wearing a gray sleeveless t-shirt, gray jeans, a stone cold expression on his face and holding his sword with both hands, pointed up to the sky. "Whoever you are, prepare to be taken down."

Xaltis scoffs and responds. "And who might you be, kid?"

"That is none of your business, but seeing as how I'm about to lay you out on this field, I'll tell you. The name's Cam."

"Cam? That doesn't sound so intimidating, not nearly as intimidating as who I am."

"You don't look very intimidating either, Mr. White Robe." Cam smirks. "In fact, you look about as scary as a rabbit."

"Trust me, Cam. I'm a lot scarier than I look, but if you think you can take me on, fine. Just know this." He sticks his Keyblade into the ground and removes his hood so that everyone can see his face. "I warned you."

The other trainees now back away a few steps, recognizing who Cam was preparing to fight against, and one of them shouts out to Cam. "You may wanna back down, Cam! He's no one you wanna mess with!"

Cam scans the crowd of trainees and finds the speaker. "Hey, Jax, I'm not scared of this guy! I don't care if his hair looks like he just crawled out of a hole!"

"Cam, you don't understand! That's..."

The voice from earlier rings out again. "Jax! Let young Cameron choose his battle! If he chooses to fight the man, let him fight. Only then can he learn..." The owner of the voice now steps out from the crowd, a graying man, but tall and well built, and looks at Cam. "Well, Cameron? Do you still choose to fight this stranger?"

"Yes, I do, sir. I wish to fight and take him down." Cam narrows his eyes at Xaltis.

"Then..." The man walks to the center of the ring of trainees around Cam and Xaltis. "Fight!"

Cam lets out a cry that almost shatters people's eardrums and then charges Xaltis with his sword pointed at his heart. Xaltis yawns as Cam charges him. "Oh, look at that. The little kid wants to fight me. Let me indulge him for just a second." Xaltis holds out a palm and Cam is frozen in his charge.

"What...what did you do to me?" He tries to move, but he can't. "Why can't I move?"

"Next lesson, never underestimate your opponent, no matter how harmless he looks." Xaltis swivels his outstretched arm and then pushes outward from himself, sending Cam back a few feet to land in front of his friend Jax, who looks down at Cam in pity. Cam gets up, dusts himself off, and charges again. Xaltis looks at him with disdain. "Still haven't learned yet? Fine, I won't even use magic. Eva?"

"Yeah, Xaltis?"

"Ready for some exercise?"

"Sure, let's do it!"

"Now to show this kid how it's really done. Bring it on, Cam!" Xaltis takes his fighting stance as Cam attacks wildly. "Nice try, kid. But I'm better...much better." Xaltis deflects Cam's attack effortlessly and then delivers a sharp slash at Cam's midsection, which sends him sprawling to the ground.

Cam gets up slowly, tending to his now bleeding wound, and looks angrily at Xaltis. "You got lucky, stranger. That won't happen the next time we fight." Cam limps away with aid from Jax.

Xaltis releases himself from his Drive, dismissing Evolution, and looks to the crowd of trainees. "Anyone else want some? Huh?" The trainees look unsure of themselves and Xaltis smirks. "Didn't think so. What a waste of my time. Markos! I know it's been a while since you've trained good ones like my brothers and me, but the caliber of these trainees is ridiculous! I almost beat Cam there with my eyes closed. I hope he's not your best this time around, or our Kingdom's doomed."

"Well, stranger, if the trainees aren't enough of a challenge for you..." Markos pulls an odd, gun-shaped sword from his over-the-shoulder sheath. "...then try me on for size!" He swings the sword in an X-shape and then points it at Xaltis. "I may not be as young as these kids here, but I can still hand a Knight brother his butt on a platter!"

"Oh, so you do remember me? Well, it hardly matters; I won't go easy on you, old man!"

"Old man, huh? I'll show you 'old man'!" Markos motions with his hand as if to say, 'Bring it on!'.

"Fine, Markos, but I've been a long way since you trained me. I've learned things you may never understand. I'm giving you one last warning. Back down...because I won't hold back like I did against Cam!"

"I would have failed you all those years ago if you even dared to hold back, Xaltis. Gimme your best shot!" Markos smiles at his former student.

Xaltis couldn't help but smile back. "Your smile's still infectious, Teacher. I'd hate to wipe it off of you when I defeat you!" He summons _Penitence_ and _Absolution_ to his hands and points _Penitence_ at Markos. "And I will defeat you, trust that!"

"Then stop talking and start swinging, Xaltis! I know I didn't teach you to talk so much!"

"You're right about that!" Xaltis yells as he throws both his Keyblades at Markos. "Double Blade Strike!" The Keyblades spin incredibly fast as they approach Markos and his waiting gunblade, who both disappear before everyone's eyes. "What? Where'd you go, Markos?"

Markos appears behind him. "Too slow, Xaltis!" Markos delivers a sharp slice to Xaltis' back and Xaltis is thrown to the ground.

"Ng...nice hit, Teach. Didn't see that coming, but I bet you didn't see this! _**Effingo quattuor!**_"(A/N 2) Three clones of Xaltis surround Markos, and for a second, he looks surprised. But, almost right after, the look of confidence returned to his face.

"Only four, Xaltis? I'm surprised! I thought you said you weren't going easy on me!" Markos immediately stabs through one of the clones, slides around a second one, and impales a third.

"I can do more than four, Teacher! Check this out! _**Effingo validus!**_" (A/N 3) Xaltis makes twenty more copies of himself, sending them all to attack his former trainer. "Is twenty better?"

"Ha! Much better, Xaltis! I thought you could do better! This is why I love training! HAHAHAHA! Xaltis! Prepare to learn why I am the master and you are the student! Lesson one: Search immediately for your opponent's weakness. Yours?" He slashes through three clones. "You're far too confident!" Impales two more. "Far too confident!" A slice through the neck of a sixth. "And these clones? They look nothing like you!"

"What are you talking about, Teach? They're exact replicas of what I look like!"

"Of your outward appearance, sure...but they're nothing like you in any way. And that's why I know..." Markos disappears again.

"What? Not again!" Xaltis dodges around his clones, who are getting cut down one by one by the teleporting Markos. "Damnit, Teach, stay in one place so I can hit you!" He stops where he is and points his sleeves at the ground. "Aeroga!" Xaltis shoots up into the air and scans the area looking for something, anything to let him know where Markos is hiding. "Where are you?"

Markos appears right above him. "Looking for someone there, Xaltis?"

"Holy...!" Xaltis flips around in the air to be floating face-to-face with Markos' gunblade.

"So do you concede?"

"Yes sir, I know when I'm beaten. I concede, Master." Xaltis dismisses his Keyblades and floats slowly to the ground, followed by Markos. "But, Master, when did you learn those moves? You never used those against us in training!"

"I learned quite a few things since your time, young one. Don't think this old dog can't learn new tricks. There's still much for anyone to learn, even at my age."

Markos and Xaltis land on the ground and receive thunderous applause and shouts of acclaim from the trainees. They all are standing in awe of the two warriors which stand before them. Markos and Xaltis bow to each other and then begin to walk away from the trainees. Markos turns around for a second. "Start sparring, boys, and I'll be back in a short while to continue your lessons."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Yells of submission from the entire squad as they scatter to carry out the latest directive.

"So, I see you're back in town, Xaltis. How are you?"

"Master, you act as if nothing ever happened, as if the events of the past year or so were all nothing."

"In all my years in this world, I've learned two things: defend oneself, and always forgive. There's no reason to hold a grudge against someone you love for a wrong they've done you because, chances are, they've probably beaten themselves up countless times already for it."

"Well, you're definitely right about that last part. And I haven't quite finished the self-abuse either."

"And why not, Xaltis? It's all in the past. You're reformed, are you not?"

"I think so, but I'm not exactly sure of myself anymore. I was sure when I first started as a Knight. And I was sure when I turned away from the Royal Court. But now? It's like I've started all over again, but I don't know what to do this time. What am I supposed to do, Master?"

"Well, to start, how about you go greet your little brother? He's just arriving now."

"How can you tell?"

"I've been training knights in this facility for years. You think I don't know when someone enters it? Now go, and come back later so we can talk."

"I will, Master. Thank you for your words, and that fight. It was exhilarating."

"No problem, I wish I could get into action more often than that. You woke up my fighting spirit. So thank you as well."

Xaltis runs off to the entrance of the training grounds to greet his brother while Markos stops walking, thinking over things. _So, all three Knights have returned to the Royal Court, eh? I wonder what the universe has in store for our Kingdom this time around. May the Heavens guide us all._

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: Short "E" in "Eva"

A/N 2: Latin meaning "Multiply by 4!"

A/N 3: Latin meaning "Multiply exceeding!"

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Talis: "Why the heck is Queen Rai so pissed at me? What did I do? Yeesh!"_

_LoneStar: "Don't ask me, Talis. You and I both know how difficult she is to deal with sometimes. Just give her time to get over it; I'm sure it'll smooth over soon."_

_Talis: "I hope so, I'd hate to lose my best friend over this."_

_Xaltis: "That was so fun! I got to throw around a cocky trainee and go toe-to-toe with my old trainer! Talis, he's gotten a lot stronger since we were kids. You should spar him, too!"_

_Talis: "Maybe after I get this whole thing with Rai straightened out. I don't wanna start something else before I finish one thing."_

_Xaltis: "Oh right, your girlfriend! Aww, is she mad at you?" **smiles devilishly**_

_Talis: "Haha, very funny, X. Again, she's not my girlfriend!"_

_Xaltis: "Sure, whatever, Queen-lover!"_

_LoneStar: "Hey, hey, hey! Take the brotherly quarreling elsewhere, got that, you two? I've got readers to address! To Vampire Roxas: I made Talis nicer, see? LOL any other suggestions, though? To hajikurazaki: I'm working on the verb tense issues. I'm not perfect, but I'm working on it. Thanks for pointing it out though. BTW, I love the character of Haji in Krystahl Kingdom. There's definitely a lot more to him than meets the eye. As more reviews come in, I'll address them, but for now, I bid you all adieu until next chapter. Salus in Lux Lucis, everyone!"_


	4. The Knights' Quest

_LoneStar: "It feels so GOOD to be back! All this work is killing my creative centers...ugh!"_

_Talis: "I find it fun, actually, killing yourself with 5 AP classes and applying to...how many colleges is it now? 10? And all those extracurriculars...hehe..."_

_LoneStar: "Your insincerity is comforting, Talis...anyway, to all my loving readers, I'm sorry I've been gone for so long; going into senior year has been THE most hectic transition yet...my head's still spinning!"_

_Talis: "Stop being lazy, LoneStar! You can handle it! There's only 140 days left, just remember that!"_

_LoneStar: "140...right...140 days of this madness left...I can handle it!"_

_Talis: "That's the spirit! Now, while LoneStar gets pumped over his last year in high school, I'll just remind you all that he doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, or anything so related, except for myself, his other OCs, and his originally designed Keyblades and swords, of course."_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter IV: The Knights' Quest

Xaltis continues to run towards the entrance of the training arena, searching for his little brother. "Kalin!"

Kalin rides into the arena on his hoverboard with a scowl on his face. "How the hell did you get here before me? And how did you do that?"

Xaltis pretends to be unknowing. "What could you possibly be talking about, Kal? I just beat you here, fair and square." He smiles innocently at his little brother.

"Don't pull that with me, X! What was that spell you did? I know I felt wind!"

"Wind? Ohhhh, you mean like this? Aero!" He points his sleeves at the ground as he yells the spell and shoots up into the air again. He waves down at Kalin. "Hi, Kalin!"

"Man, get down from there! We have a job to do, remember?"

"You can't make me, because I can fly and you can't!"

"I don't need to fly, because I've got **this**!" Kalin draws Ensho and points it in the air at Xaltis. "Ensho Hakai Yoso, Destruction – Element Ice!" Kalin starts shooting ice shards at Xaltis, who dodges them with expert skill.

"Hey! Stop shooting ice at me!" Xaltis keeps dodging the shards, but with increasing difficulty. "Seriously, Kalin! Stop – shooting – ice – at – me-ow!" He falls to the ground after being hit by a shard he didn't see. He makes a face at his little brother. "Ng...that one hurt. Now I'm mad!" Xaltis summons _Absolution_ and points it at Kalin. "I'm gonna beat you down for that!"

"Xaltis! Didn't I tell you to come back to talk to me after you found your brother?" Markos walks over calmly with a slight frown on his face, but there was no mistaking the mirth in his eyes. "Anyway, no need to apologize. I just came to tell you that..." Markos stops suddenly and looks up into the air. "...the door has been opened."

Both brothers looked at their former teacher with the same amount of confusion. "Door, Master?" Xaltis is the first to respond.

"What door, Master Markos?"

"Oh, I fear I have been unclear with you, and this is rather unexpected as well. I'd rather do this explanation with your brother involved, so..." Markos claps once and the trio disappear from the arena.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

He claps again and they reappear outside of the Knight garage. "I believe your brother would be in here, correct?"

"More tricks, Master? You have got to teach me that one!"

"Later, Xaltis. Right now, we have important things to discuss." Markos leans into the doorway. "Talis! Are you in here?"

"Come on in, Master! I'm just working on the bike again!"

Markos walks into the garage, followed by Xaltis and Kalin, who still wear their confused looks.

"OK, Master, why do my brothers look like they just got their minds blown?"

"Because I told them something they didn't understand. Now that you're all here, I can tell you. Now I told your brothers that the door has been opened. They don't understand. Do you?"

"I don't think so...what door would you be talking about, Master?"

"You all have a lot to learn yet, but first, let's get comfortable. Do you have chairs in here?"

"Yeah, in the next room. Follow me."

The four warriors walk into the next room, led by Talis, and get more comfortable on the soft chairs the Knights keep in the garage. "OK, now that we're all here and comfortable, what did you want to tell us, Master?"

"I guess I do need to explain myself. The best place to begin, of course, is at the beginning. Long ago, the worlds in the universe were autonomous and completely separate. No creature or human could pass between worlds in any way. However, due to events unforeseen, the worlds soon became connected by paths known as Corridors of Darkness."

"May I interrupt you for a second, Master?"

"Yes, Kalin?"

"Are you saying that there are worlds outside of this one?"

"Yes, that is indeed what I'm saying."

"OK, just making sure I heard you correctly. Please continue."

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, due to unforeseen events, the worlds became connected by darkness, and dark beings known as Heartless began to use these pathways to steal the hearts of man and beast, all in the process in searching for the ultimate power source in each world, its heart."

"Worlds have hearts? Does that mean that our world, Hikari Lux Lucis, has a heart as well?"

"Yes, Xaltis, this world has a heart as well, and that is what Heartless are after."

"I think it's my turn to ask a question. Why do Heartless seek the heart of the world? Is there some ultimate purpose?"

"Glad you asked, Talis, for that is where the focus of my tale will turn. As the Heartless feed on the hearts of others, their numbers grow immensely. However, for the most part, they are mindless creatures. They have one-track 'minds', if you can call them that, only looking for hearts in order to increase their ranks."

"So what's to stop them from taking everyone's hearts?"

"If you let me finish my explanation, Xaltis, you'll know the complete story on Heartless. Now, all the Heartless in the universe seek to steal the heart of a world in order to turn its people into Heartless as well and to stay alive. When Heartless steal the world's heart, the heart itself goes to a place known as Kingdom Hearts. No one really knows what Kingdom Hearts is, but what is known is that it is completely pure light. No darkness can stand before it and survive. When a world is lost, any survivors of the Heartless assault are sent to another world, one that lies in between the light and the darkness. Hikari Lux Lucis, despite its name, is one of these Crossworlds, as they are called. That's why our population grows faster than expected, sadly. The worlds fall apart and leave its survivors on Crossworlds, lost and confused. The rest of the world is transported to a place unnamed by anyone I know, and I'm not quite sure what resides there..."

"So, THAT'S what the Hikari Lux Lucis Transition Center is for! Makes sense now...but then, Master, how do we get the worlds back?"

Master Markos turns to Talis wearing that frown that the triplets know all too well, he was thinking...a lot.

"When you say 'get the worlds back', what do you mean by that, Talis?"

"What else could I mean? I mean, making sure that the worlds return to their natural state, with all its people returned from being Heartless? Is that possible? How can we do it?"

"I see you have your mind made up...and you two?" Markos looks at Kalin and Xaltis.

"I see that as kind of our destiny, Master, seeing as how we have these and everything." Xaltis and Talis summon their Keyblades. "At least, that's what the Voice told us."

Markos could almost hear the capitals in that statement so he asks, "What voice, Xaltis?" Markos looks at Xaltis with intrigue.

"The voice that spoke to Talis and me when we were on that platform...what was it called again?"

"The Station of Awakening, I think it was."

"Right. Thanks, Talis. As I was saying, at the Station of Awakening, there was a Voice that told us that we have to do this because we were chosen by the Keyblades. There's no choice in the matter for Talis and I, but I want to do it, anyway. To make up for all I've done, you know?"

"This voice you heard, what did it sound like? Was it male or female? Was the voice rough or gentle? Can you describe it for me? Either of you?"

"Well, it was definitely a woman's voice..."

"Gentle, like a mother guiding her child..."

"Whoever the Voice belonged to knew we would be there and wanted nothing more than to help us..."

Markos has the same thinking frown as always as he responds. "This is very interesting...if I remember things correctly from my studies, what you two experienced is known as a Dive into the Heart."

"Can you explain that, please? In a way that the one person in the room that has no idea what you all are talking about can understand?"

"Of course, Kalin. First, I want Talis and Xaltis to explain their first experience in a Dive."

"Well, it was like this. Talis and I fought each other hard at the Citadel, matching blow for blow. I couldn't believe how strong he'd gotten; I was proud of him. And as I started to become more and more proud of him, I remembered where it all started and thought about how crazy I was being. I looked at Talis and he was just so powerful...I didn't know whether I could beat him anymore."

"I saw that look in your eyes, brother, and that's why I paused, if you remember that, too. I saw the remembrance in your eyes and I knew that I had a chance to save you. That's all I could think about at that point, was how to save my big brother from what he'd become. So I thought, and thought, and thought..."

"As the memories of my past came flooding back, I started to remember the path of destruction that led me to where I was at that point, and that nearly drove me to tears. To think, I could have been crying in the middle of a heated battle. Me! Xaltis! Crying! I figured the only way to pay for what I had done to all of you, to my family, friends, and homeland was for Talis to defeat me in battle, and for me to die honorably. So I continued to fight, silently hoping he was still mad enough to strike me down."

"Thankfully, you weren't so lucky. At that time, I had already forgiven you. Right before I made the final strike, a voice came to me...now that I think about it, that voice sounded the same as the one in the Station...I wonder if she knew all that would happen. Anyway, the voice told me that **'there is a choice to be made. You can save your brother, but only if you truly wish it, deep in your heart. For your hearts are connected, as comrades and as brothers. There is no changing that. Do you wish to save your brother, Talis?'** I answered, 'Yes I do, so very much; at this point, nothing matters more.' The voice returned and told me **'Make your brother accept the light and he'll be saved.'** The word 'light' made me understand. Xaltis' heart was full of darkness, sure, but it wasn't consumed, which meant there was still good in him, light that needed to be augmented. That's where the Quintessence came in."

"And that's when Talis brought me back. By defeating me with light instead of with simple swordsmanship, he allowed me to see that I didn't have to die out there. He made a way out for me. When the Quintessence Limit was over, he asked me, in a voice not entirely his own, 'Do you wish to return home?' Of course I answered, 'Yes, but how do I face everyone I hurt?' Talis told me 'Just trust me, brother, and we'll return together.' That's when he held out his hand. Once I grabbed his hand, everything went dark, as if I just got knocked out."

"That happened to me, too! I thought it was some kind of adverse reaction to the amount of darkness in the area. Now I know different."

"Anyway, when I woke up, a Voice called out to me, and gave me a choice. Now that I think about it, it was the same voice as in the Dive, you called it? It said, **'Xaltis Knight, you now have a rough road of penitence ahead of you for your actions. Betrayal is grounds for destruction. However, your family seems to believe otherwise, so you are presented with a choice. You can face the road of penitence alone, without returning home. Or you can return home to face your family and friends.'** Knowing that there's always a catch, I asked 'What's the rub?', to which the voice responded, as if talking to others, **'This one's got a brain; I like that.'** and then back to me, the voice said, **'Well, in choosing to return home, you will no longer have a solid form, or at least, you will only be as solid as you are strong. The majority of your form will reside with your brother, though. Don't be discouraged; your body will be returned to you, but only once your will to have it returns to you as well.'**"

"Can I stop you for a second, X?"

"Sure, T, what's up?"

"Where was I when all this happened?"

"I don't know...asleep, I guess? I couldn't really see anything, so I have no idea. But I didn't feel your presence around either, so I don't know if you were even there at that point. Anyway, after thinking about it for all of five seconds, I decided, obviously, to live in your mind, Talis. I didn't quite understand the Voice's words regarding me getting my body back, but I just dealt with it. After I made my decision, I just fell asleep again, for quite a while."

"And I think that's where my story begins again. When I...woke up, I guess, I was in a dark room with one door in front of me. Something just told me to walk through it, and when I did, I saw so many of my memories, from the beginning of training all the way to my fight against X at the Citadel, in little windows along a long hallway. It seemed like the hallway would go on forever until I reached some stairs, glowing stairs. As I walked up, a voice called out to me; this time, it sounded like you, X, just calling my name, waiting for me to find you. I started running at that point, because I wasn't about to lose my brother again, but when I reached the top of the staircase, no one was there, just a door. Another door separating me from my brother, and I wasn't having that. I ran through it, and was struck by a blinding light as soon as I passed through the doorway; I couldn't help but close my eyes. When I opened my eyes and adjusted to the sunlight, I couldn't help but be surprised. Sunlight! There had to be a catch, especially since when I looked around, the place looked exactly like the Shadow Desert; never would've ended up back there without Xaltis, or so I thought."

Just when Talis was getting deeper into his story, a frantic knock came at the door of the garage, followed by a familiar pink-wearing Knight sibling.

"Guys! You gotta come quick! There's shooting stars!" Before any of the men in the room can respond to Carla's rushed summon, she ran back out of the room.

"Is she really calling us out there for some stars?" Xaltis asks in annoyance. "I want to finish the story!"

"You'd better go, you three." Markos stands as he advises the Knight triplets. With a knowing smile, he adds, "You never know what you might overlook."

"Master?" Kalin tentatively approaches Markos with is question.

"Yes, Kalin?"

"Why are you so cryptic all the time?"

"It's simple; I know how smart you three are. You always end up figuring out what I mean...and besides, can't keep up with the enigmatic teacher schtick if I'm straightforward, now can I?" With a wink and his trademark grin, Markos disappears from the room, leaving the Knight triplets confused and disoriented.

"Well, you heard the master, guys; let's go check out what Carla was talking about, huh?" Talis runs out of the door in search of Carla.

"Wait up, man!" Kalin and Xaltis run after him almost immediately, unaware of the dark presence that watched their whole conversation.

The person steps out of the darkness dressed in only black. "Something I can use to my advantage...an interesting bunch, these three, now that I see them together, especially the blue-haired one...I must tell the master..." The dark figure then fades into a Corridor of Darkness.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

"Carla!" Talis runs to the front of the castle and sees his sister staring up into the sky. "Carla!" He runs to her side and tries to talk to his entranced sister. "Why'd you run off like that?"

She grabs his face and points it towards the sky in silence. "Look."

Talis looks up and sees what Carla came in claiming. Shooting stars...in broad daylight. "What does it mean?"

Markos walks up next to him, almost out of nowhere. "You know what it is, Talis. Unless you weren't listening to my story..."

Talis looks away from the sky to face his master in utter horror. "You mean, these shooting stars are...? No...more worlds are being destroyed?"

Kalin and Xaltis run up behind them to see the falling stars. "Did you just say...?" "More destroyed worlds?"

Carla turns to face them all. "What's this about destroyed worlds? Those beautiful shooting stars are dying worlds?"

Markos looks gravely at Carla. "Indeed they are...in fact, I don't remember the last time I've seen this many at once. This is bad...this is very bad...what was that?"

Talis looks at Markos, not knowing what to think anymore. "What was what, Master?"

Markos points in the direction of the Shadow Desert. "Go...go there now, the three of you are needed out there immediately. I must talk to the Queen about this. Carla, go find your sister and bring her to the Throne Room."

With a "Yes sir!", Carla salutes, nods and runs up the castle steps to search for the fifth Knight sibling. As Markos turns to face the three Knight brothers, he sighs, almost sadly. "It seems your quest has begun, boys. Now go to the Shadow Desert and once there, you'll know what to do. We'll be waiting in the Throne Room when you get back."

Kalin smirks when he looks at Xaltis with his question. "Xaltis, you wanna ride your board or what?"

Xaltis gives a quick smile and says, "You know it. What are we waiting for?"

Talis grins as well, "Then, let's get out of here, Kalin; we've got a job to do."

"You know it!" Kalin, Xaltis and Talis give a triple high-five and close their eyes. _**"Kaiso." "Takuetsu." "Shogeki." **_(A/N 2) Talis' trademark bike appears in front of him in a flash of light as Kalin's and Xaltis' hoverboards appears in their hand. "Time to go!" Talis yells as he revs his engine and speeds off into the afternoon sun followed by Kalin on his hoverboard.

Left in the dust is their teacher, Markos. As he turns to face the palace of Hikari Lux Lucis, he is struck by a voice. "May I come into Hikari Lux Lucis, Markos? You know I need your permission."

Markos is transported to his own mind platform, where a darkened figure is waiting for him. "What do _you_ want here? And how are you even still around?"

"That's not important. Let's just say I've got some unfinished business. Just grant me permission to enter your world; I have a different mission this time."

"If I grant you permission to enter my world, you mustn't take a single heart. If you do, I'll kill you myself."

"I'm hurt, Markos, I thought I was your friend." The voice seems almost to be toying with him.

"Don't screw with me, I know what you're capable of and I won't let you harm anyone. Promise me that things are different this time, and I'll grant you entry."

"Fine..." Resignation is evident in the voice. "I promise that I won't harm anyone once I enter your world."

"Get in, do what you have to do, and get out, got it...old friend?"

"Of course, Markos, of course. You know I don't waste time."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: The names of their vehicles, Talis' motorbike and Kalin's hoverboard, respectively.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Talis: "Oooh, ooh, I know who that is! It's- **Kalin and Xaltis jump him so he won't spoil the secret**_

_LoneStar: "Thank you very much, smarter Knight brothers. He almost ruined my question for the readers. Special mention to anyone who can correctly guess the identity of the voice speaking to Markos at the end of the chapter. And in case this question is raised upon reading, no, the two dark figures in this chapter are not the same person."_

_Kalin: "Sorry about Talis, LoneStar, he's a little antsy lately and no one knows why..."_

_Xaltis: "We took good care of him though...hehehe..." **points to a tied up Talis with tape over his mouth**_

_LoneStar: "Geez...he needs that much restraint? Thanks, guys."_

_Kalin: "No problem, LoneStar. Hey, when are you showing up in this story of ours?"_

_LoneStar: "I haven't even decided if I will yet! Don't ruin it!"_

_Xaltis: "Am I gonna have to tie him up too?"_

_LoneStar: "That won't be necessary, X, it's fine. To the readers, again, sorry for such a long wait for this chapter. I really wanted to get it out sooner but school got in the way. Thanks for being patient. Salus in Lux Lucis!" =) _


	5. Facing The Darkness Part I

_LoneStar: "Two chapters in a row? Is there some kind of law I'm breaking?"_

_Kalin: "No...there's no law that says that you can't post two chapters in the same day, especially if you haven't posted in months."_

_LoneStar: "True, true...oh, before I forget, before you all rush into reading this chapter, it'll make no sense unless you read Chapters 18-21 of Krystahl Kingdom Crossover Saga by user hajikurazaki19. You can find the story under my Favorites at the bottom of my profile page. Thanks! And Kalin, is Talis still tied up?"_

_Kalin: "I think so. He's pretty miffed, so I didn't wanna let him go and then he starts attacking us."_

_LoneStar: "How'd you keep him tied up all this time anyway?"_

_Kalin: "Special rope...that's all I gotta say. Don't know where it came from, but it works."_

_LoneStar: "..."_

_Kalin: "Anyway, LoneStar doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, Disney, or any of its affiliates. The Knights, the Hikaris, and the citizens of Hikari Lux Lucis belong to him, though."_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~~_

Chapter V: The Darkness Within

_Falling...falling into darkness again. How could I let this happen? How could I have let the Births poison my mind and turn me against my friends and family? And my Keyblades, am I even worthy of them anymore? Am I worthy of being a Keyblade Wielder? I've let everyone down; I'm worse than dirt. Seems like a fitting end for a screw-up like me..._

"_Feeling sorry for yourself solves nothing, only adds to the sorrow..."_

"_He's right, you know. We haven't given up on you, but it seems you've given up on yourself. That's not the X I chose to be my Wielder!"_

"_Penitence? Absolution? Is that you? How are you talking to me?"_

"_Open your eyes, genius; you stopped falling ages ago."_

Xaltis opens his eyes to find himself standing on a darkened platform. The only visible light comes from a ring around the edge of the platform, scattered with the pattern of the Crest of the Royal Knights in white. Not even his own face is on the platform, which surprises him greatly. "Why...where's my face? Where's anyone's face?"

"Your platform's been shattered, X. Destroyed by the darkness that has so often consumed you."

"Your heart, as your judgment was, is clouded, shrouded by the darkness."

"So your platform does not respond to your presence as it should because, like the complete you, it's not there."

"What do you mean, the complete me? Are you saying that I'm a Nobody or something because that would make no sense!"

A hand suddenly smacks Xaltis across the face. He looks up to see who it belonged to and is transfixed by the vision in front of him. A pale girl with piercing jade green eyes and jet black hair stood before him, clothed in a black and blue striped sleeveless shirt and black pants. Around her neck is a chain with a charm in the shape of the Knights' Crest. Black knee-high boots complete the ensemble and a scowl lies on her face. "Get up and stop gawking, Keyboy; I'm not the day's entertainment."

"Are you..." Xaltis starts as he gets up. "Are you Eva?"

"Took you long enough to be able to see me, you damn fool! Here I am, choosing you to be my Wielder, and you're just constantly beating yourself up over nothing!. Shoot! You're worse than Riku was...and don't even get me started on how bad he was with the self-abuse...why do I always pick the emo ones?"

"That's enough, Eva, give the boy a chance to collect himself. It's not every day that someone opens their eyes the behold the spirits of their weapons, now, is it?"

Xaltis turns to his left to find the source of this second voice: a tall man with a shiny bald head, wearing a black tuxedo, white shirt, and bowtie, reminiscent of James Bond...that is, if Xaltis knew who James Bond is. His face was rough and he had scars over his eyes in the shape of X's, but his smile was soft and inviting.

"And you're..."

"As you know me, _Knight's Absolution_, at your service, young Wielder." He bows as he greets Xaltis. "I feared you would never come to know what we looked like."

"OK..." He points to Eva. "So you're _Knight's Evolution_..." Then to Absolution. "And you're _Knight's Absolution_, right?"

"Duh Keyboy, we just told you that...geez, what is with Keyblade Wielders and being dense?" Eva looks annoyed at Xaltis.

"So, where's Penny?"

"Right here, mopey." Penny, of course being the nickname for the Keyblade known as K_night's Penitence_, is the Keyblade Xaltis feels most attached to, even for the short time he's had the Keyblade. Her kind voice calls that statement out to him from behind and he turns around immediately to face her, an older (or so he believed) dark-haired (with white and gray highlights) girl with a white flared blouse and knee-length black skirt and black and white checkered boots on. Her hair was held up in a ponytail by a pin that had the Crest of the Knights on the end of it. She had the lightest gray eyes, so light they were almost silver, full of hope, happiness, and at this moment, worry as she held her own face in her right hand.

"Nice to finally meet you in person, Pen—oomph!"

Penny had run over and now holds Xaltis' face in her hands, scanning it for heaven knows what. X turns his eyes towards his other Keyspirits in confusion, but they both shrug back at him, just as confused.

"You don't look so evil...so why is darkness so strong in your heart? Could it be that you're the one the Elders spoke of?"

"Elders? Could you explain a little further, Penny?"

"I think I can shed some light on this, at least if my memory does not fail me. You see, we Keyblades are not just weapons, but are powerful spirits, made corporeal by the weapons Wielders hold in their hands. The Elders, the oldest of us Keyspirits, are also the six most wise of ancient beings. No one knows just how old they are, but everyone knows their weapon forms. If you've heard of the Kingdom Key, Way to the Dawn, Oathkeeper, Oblivion, Ultima, or D, you've heard of an Elder. Although, when Dawn first told me she was an Elder, I was shocked; there's no way she could be that old and be so..."

"Get back to the story, you lovesick bald guy!"

"Oh hush up, Eva...anyway, the Elders spoke to us of a Wielder who would be with out much natural darkness in his heart, but easily susceptible to it. The further he would try to run from it, the faster it would engulf him. However, he would be one of three to lead the fight against the darkest of dark days. I now believe, as Penny does, that you are that one, Xaltis, and so I, for one, consider it an honor to fight at your side, young Xaltis."

"So what, my brothers and I are supposed to save the universe or something? Like Sora did so long ago? If he closed the door to Kingdom Hearts, why are the Heartless back?"

"Young Xaltis, so strong, yet so naïve. The Keyblade Master is only so strong; Kingdom Hearts is that much stronger. Ansem the Wise tried to decode the heart; he fell into the Realm of Darkness for it. Xehanort, a former Keyblade Master, fell to darkness trying to control it and engulfed another Wielder, Terra. The resulting entity, who Sora knew as Xehanort, gave himself up to darkness and split into a Heartless and Nobody, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas, Leader of Organization XIII. Those entities were the driving forces behind Sora's early adventures as a teenager to close Kingdom Hearts. As they all learned, and as you should know quite well, the heart is unpredictable, impossible to control or keep tabs on, let alone the Heart of All Worlds. Xaltis, imagine this: a place that is filled with every desire of every heart that ever walked your homeworld. Now multiply that by the millions of worlds in the multiverse. Then concentrate all that energy into a single entity. THAT, my master, is Kingdom Hearts."

"So...so Sora failed? Is that what you're saying?" Xaltis sits on the platform, defeated.

"No, you...Xaltis, weren't you paying attention? It's impossible to keep Kingdom Hearts sealed forever; the constant influx of power is far too much to be contained. Keyblade Masters have been "sealing" Kingdom Hearts for years, hundreds upon hundreds of years, hoping that it would be the last time. But what none of them, except for probably Sora, realized is that as long as people continue to exist, Kingdom Hearts will exist...and as long as Kingdom Hearts exists, Heartless will exist. Do you understand now, smart guy?" Eva looks absolutely livid after this explanation.

"I...I think so...but simply destroying Kingdom Hearts won't really work, will it?"

"Sadly, no, young one. Attempting to destroy Kingdom Hearts, even if you did succeed, would destroy absolutely everything."

"So you're saying that we're stuck in this endless cycle of sealing and re-sealing Kingdom Hearts...oh well, I guess it could be worse. Only problem now is getting home to tell my brothers that there's a bigger evil than the Births to defeat. How will Hikari Lux Lucis survive that, though? We barely survived the Births."

A fifth voice, sounding vaguely familiar, rings out from the void. "You don't get home, Xaltis! In fact, you'll die, right here, in your own mind, by my hand!"

Xaltis turns frantically to and fro, trying to find the source of the voice. "Who is that out there? It couldn't be..."

The sound of an opening Corridor of Darkness causes Xaltis to turn directly around and catches it just in time to see a figure sporting the black cloak of the long-extinct Organization XIII. Dark blue hair is visible under the hood, which is slowly removed to reveal sharp black eyes and a face that looks exactly like his own. A smirk crosses the mysterious man's face as a familiar weapon, the Dark Keyblade Knight's Demon, appears in his hand. "Remember me? Time to die, Light Side!" He rushes the original Xaltis, who jumps into the air at the last second to avoid the attack.

"How are you still around? Talis purged you from my mind at the Citadel!" Xaltis shouts from above. "You're supposed to be gone!"

The doppelganger calls up to his original: "Talis only assumed he did because you went back to being your weak self, but a fragment of my being still rested in your heart, slowly regaining form as I fed on your doubts. Your possession by the Births was the vehicle by which I can now make my triumphant return, to wreak havoc on those who thought me dead and finish what I started. Now die!" The last two words come in a snarl as he fires a dark fireball at Xaltis, who has no time to dodge and gets hit square in the chest. As he flies through the air, Xaltis tries to collect himself, but realizes that his body is headed straight for another platform, which he lands on face-first. His Keyspirits look on in horror once he lands. "What's the matter? Can't call on your Keyblades?" Dark Xaltis smirks at his counterpart. "Weak...no wonder you fall so easily..."

"He's not weak!" Penny yells at the specter. "He's just doubting himself! Xaltis, get up!"

Dark Xaltis looks at _Penitence_'s human form and smiles evilly. "Would you look at that? She's a cutie, Xaltis, where have you been hiding her?" Then he looks at the other two spirits on the platform. "Well, well, well, now it's a party!" He casts a dark lightning spell, aimed at the Keyspirits. "Dark Homing Thundaga!" Black lightning shoots out of his sleeves towards the three Keyspirits and Absolution steps out in front to take the blow. Xaltis, from his fallen state on the other platform, looks on, seemingly frozen in place.

"No! DON'T!"

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_LoneStar: "Quick talk this time. Sorry about the brevity of this chapter, but I promise the next chapter will be more fun and full of action to make up for this one. Love you guys, my readers and reviewers, and I hope to get more chapters out sooner rather than later. Salus in Lux Lucis!"_


	6. Facing the Darkness Part II

_Kalin: "Why'd you have to leave them on a cliffie in such a short chpater, you jerk?" __**aims to smack LoneStar upside the head**_

_LoneStar: "Hey, hey, hey, it may be your lives but I'm allowed to take some creative license as far as where I stop, OK? No telling me how to write my stories, got that?"_

Kalin: "Grr...you're lucky I'm not the violent one in the family and the other two are tied up right now..."

_LoneStar: "Stop threatening me and do the disclaimer, would you?"_

_Kalin: __**sarcastically**__ "Yes sir! Chairman LoneStar doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix, Disney, or any of its affiliates."_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter VI: The Darkness Threatens...

_When last we left Xaltis, he was finding out about his destiny as a Keyblade Wielder from none other than his own Keyblades. However, the tale was cut short by the appearance of his darker half, itching for a fight to the death. Can Xaltis find the strength to face and destroy his darker half, or will the darkness in his heart take hold once again?_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

"Don't you touch them!"

The dark specter laughs insanely as Xaltis' cries fall on deaf ears. "What's the matter, Light Side? Can't save your friends? That's too bad, because now I'm gonna destroy them. Goodbye!"

"No! I won't let you harm them!" Xaltis glows with a golden light as he rises to his feet. The hood falls off of his head, revealing that his own blue hair is now white and his eyes are now golden. "Don't you touch them!" His green cloak turns gold, then white, then gold, continuing its flux of color change as Xaltis teleports to stand in front of his Keyspirits and block the black lightning with his hands. (A/N 1) "No matter what, I won't let him harm my strength." He turns to face his Keyspirits. "You guys are my strength, you and my family. I'll never forget that, never." His hand and Absolution start to glow with a white light. "What...what's going on? Why is my hand glowing? Why are _you _glowing?"

"You've unlocked my true form, Young Knight; now fight your enemy and destroy him for good!" _Absolution_'s human form disappears.

"We'll do it together! Come on, Magnus!" A new Keyblade forms out of the light in Xaltis' hand, fitting his grasp almost like a glove. The guard, in the shape of two curling wings, surrounds the hilt itself, shaped like the Knights' Crest. With a double blade of silver and black crosshatch and a white and blue filigree, the ends unite at the tooth, in the shape of a lion's head, similar to the Sleeping Lion Keyblade. The Keychain is shaped like the tooth, but is colored midnight blue. The name _Knight's Strength_ flashed through everyone's minds as Xaltis' eyes' golden tint becomes more intense. "Dark Side! You will pay!"

"Not before you do, Light Side!" Dark and Light Xaltis each let loose a battle cry that shatters the dark covering of the platform once they unite. The new platform has Xaltis without his cloak, eyes closed with _Knight's Strength_ in his hand. On the other side, in the same position but upside down, lay Dark Xaltis, also without his cloak, but wearing all black as opposed to Xaltis' white and gold Drive clothes. He holds _Knight's Demon_ in his hand. In the background lays the castle Arceo under the sunset. The ever-present ring of Crests finishes off the platform. "Looks like we share this platform, Light Side; isn't that poetic?"

"Shut up, you dark jerk!" Penny yells at the dark side from behind Xaltis.

"The weapon gets bold! Better hush her up before I rip her a new one, X!" His voice grows more menacing as his sentence ends and he walks closer.

"Penny...Eva...get out of here..." Xaltis sounds almost pained as he speaks to his female Keyspirits.

"But, X...we can help you."

"No, the fight's for just me and Magnus this time, alright? Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"X is right, you two. I can sense the darkness on this one. Though it doesn't threaten us yet, if we lose this battle, Xaltis will be lost forever, and if that happens, there'll be hell to pay, and none of us want that. Go, and we'll come back soon." The former _Knight's Absolution_ speaks gravely but softly despite being in Keyblade form.

"Understood, guys. Let's go, Penny."

"But, Eva..."

"You heard him; there's no need for us to stay and get caught in the crossfire." Eva turns to Xaltis with a grim look on her face. "You better win, or I'll never forgive you, X." She smile weakly.

"I promise, Eva, I'm not gonna let this monster control me any longer."

Penny and Eva fade out of the Dive as Xaltis faces down his dark side with a death stare as Dark Xaltis gives an evil smirk right back at him. "Oh, how cute. Promises to a Keyblade...it's just a weapon, you fool! An extension of yourself for simply augmenting your power. Nothing more!"

Xaltis thinks to himself: _Is that really how I felt about power?How could I have been so blind?_

_Strength_ responds to Xaltis, lifting his spirits slightly. "It doesn't matter; that's not you anymore, and if we've got anything to say about it, it'll never be you again."

"Agreed, Magnus. Now let's kick this sorry guy's butt."

Dark Xaltis sneers at his good half. "Oh please, you really think you can beat me? Don't make me laugh." He unzips his black cloak and discards it, revealing the same outfit he wears on the platform. His tanned skin has a dark tint to it and his black eyes pierced even the darkness of the area. His wild blue hair, even more wilder than the original's, comes down over his left eye, and two large bangs in the middle curve in like wings. "Now what say we make this more convincing, huh? No holds barred, and no coats in the way."

"Hmph...whatever you say, Dark Side." Xaltis sheds his own cloak to reveal that his underclothes are now gold with white trim. He points his Keyblade at his opponent. "Let's do this, then!"

Silently Dark Xaltis summons _Knight's Demon_ to his right hand again but, to Xaltis' surprise, summons another Keyblade to his left hand. _Dark Ruler_ rings through Xaltis' mind as he stares, wide-eyed, at the second Key in his opponent's hand. The same shape as _Knight's Strength_, but in all purple and black, the Key made a perfect opposite to the Light Wielder's Keyblade.

"Where'd you get another Keyblade?"

"You think denizens of the light are the only ones who can get Keyblades? Being stuck in your head fueled my hatred and my desire for more power. It exemplifies itself in this, my Dark Keyblade. Surprised? You shouldn't be; I'm just as strong as you are, if not stronger. Black sparks surround the Keyblades as he throws them at Xaltis. "Dark Thunder Strike!"

Xaltis brings his Key up to his front to defend himself, but only sees one Key coming at him. The other swings around and strikes him in the back just as he blocks the first. A shock of electricity flows through him as he falls to the ground, disoriented. His doppelganger runs at him, dark flames forming in his hands, but Xaltis is never one to give up. He jumps up, hands free, and calls upon his own magical ability to bring normal fire to his hands and he braces himself. The two collide and their fires cancel each other. They jump apart and re-summon their weapons.

"Time for the darkness to envelop you!" The Dark Side begins spinning his weapons in his hands at blinding speeds while dark lightning falls from above all over the field. Each bolt that hits one of the Keys is sent flying at Xaltis, who can barely bring his own Key up in time to block all of them. The Keys gather enough lightning so that the sparks make spheres around the blades, continually spinning in midair on their own, conducting the electricity all over the field. Xaltis tries desperately to dodge all the bolts of lightning that shoot at him. Dark Xaltis laughs uncontrollably as he grabs one charged Key and throws it at Xaltis, who deflects it just as the Dark Side throws the other one, catching the first in his hands and throwing it back. Back and forth, the Dark Side alternates throwing his Keyblades at Xaltis, each one packed with more and more electricity, giving Xaltis more and more difficulty as the speed of the onslaught increases. Dark Xaltis laughs more and more maniacally as the battery continues. "Time to end this nonsense!" With a clap, his Keys merge into one, making one that bears a striking similarity to a Keyblade of ancient lore.

The similarity is not left unnoticed by _Knight's Strength_, who comments in utter surprise and near-horror. "That's...that's the χ-Blade! How could he possibly know how to make that?"

"Still surprised at my power? While I'm incredibly flattered, this is not the feared and legendary χ-Blade. However, it's similar enough to give me the power I need to kill you both." With a piercing cry, the dark specter rushes Xaltis, delivering blow after blow with his new blade, each attack sending a jolt of electricity through the two of them. One, two, four, eight, sixteen...countless slashes being constantly, though painstakingly, parried by Xaltis. The last, however, and also the most powerful, comes as Dark Xaltis jumps back and somersaults over him. Before Xaltis had a chance to whip around and parry, Dark Xaltis lands, spins on his heels, and slashes Xaltis right through, sending powerful charges of dark energy through his body and flinging him across the platform. Dark Xaltis, standing in the slashing position, speaks very softly, _**"E**__**st terminus pro lux lucis."**_ (A/N 2) The lightning that coursed all around the stage returns to Dark Side's Double Key, giving him a darker aura for a few seconds. (A/N 3)

Xaltis gets up slowly, seething at his doppelganger's back. "You...you...grr...I'm gonna kill you!" His right eye changes from gold to black as his anger begins to take hold, darkening his facial expression.

"Don't let your anger cloud your judgment, young one. We can beat him without it!"

"I know, I know, but this guy's really starting to irk me!" Half-gold, half-black right eye.

"Getting on your nerves? I'll show you!" Dark Side runs toward Xaltis, his Double Key dragging behind him.

"Not this time, Dark Side!" Xaltis backflips into the air, pointing _Knight's Strength_ directly at the ground. "What a riot!" Xaltis surrounds his Keyblade with flame as the throws it at the ground below him, scattering the fire into balls all over the field. "And so..." Xaltis lands on the ground in the center of the field, removes his Keyblade from the ground, and quickly draws a circle around himself. "...let the flames begin..." Xaltis calls one of the fireballs to him and smacks it with the Keyblade, straight into Dark Side's exposed chest, throwing him to the ground. Before he could get up, Xaltis jumps to the edge of the ring, drawing a square into the ground around him and hitting another fireball at his opponent, who got up just in time to get the fireball in his face. Xaltis then teleports to a second corner, draws a square in the ground, and hits a third fireball at his doppelganger. Another teleportation, and another fireball to the face of his opponent, this time launching him up into the air. Xaltis then jumps to the final corner and draws a pentagon around himself. "Effingo duos!" (A/N 4) Xaltis makes a copy of himself, who walks to the center circle and casts a "Stopra!" spell on the airborne Dark Side, then begins collecting the leftover fire in a ball ove his right hand. As the fire coalesces into a giant sphere over the X-Clone's hand, sweat forms on his brow and the original Xaltis readies his Keyblade as one would a baseball bat. The fireball is completed and the call goes out. "Play ball!" The X-Clone throws the fireball at the original, who hits it straight up at Dark Xaltis as he yells "Home Run Firaga!" Dark Xaltis' eye could only widen as he lay helplessly in the sky, waiting for his doom. The fireball engulfs him, bringing him crashing sown to the platform below, smoldering and yelling. (A/N 5)

"Lost? Me? Impossible! How could I have been beaten by such a weak attack?" Denial hits the dark specter as he begins to fade into oblivion. "I'm not done on this plane of existence yet!" His Double Key fades into darkness. "My Keyblade...Xaltis, help me! You can't leave me to die here! I am you!"

Xaltis looks at his evil doppelganger for the last time, and with disdain says, "Goodbye, Dark Side. This is the last time we meet, and you will NEVER be back." He points _Knight's Strength _at the Dark Side and shoots a beam of light at his opponent, who yells in anguish as he fades completely, leaving only his cloak behind. Xaltis walks over to the spot and picks up the cloak, deciding to hold on to it. "A souvenir...to remember, and to never go back to that dark place."

A blinding light then covers the entire platform, forcing Xaltis to shut his eyes. When the light receded, he stood on the same platform, but it was covered with doves that soon flew away to reveal a new pattern. The image of Dark Xaltis was gone, replaced by tangent circles, each with one of his family members on it, the fifth circle holding a picture of Queen Raina and the last holding a picture of the Knights' new friends Soriku, Roxel, and Asmuth.

"What...what's going on?"

_**You are free.**_

"Free? Do you mean free from the evil in my heart?"

_**Free to begin your journey, under your own power and volition.**_

Three small platforms appear in front of Xaltis, each with a different weapon on it: a sword, a shield, and a staff. "Is this...?"

**_A new journey unfolds for you, so choose wisely, young one._**

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Xaltis: "Finally! I was getting sick of that guy in my Dive!"_

_LoneStar: "Wasn't that worth the wait?"_

_Talis: "Sure, but now aren't you just exactly where Haji left you?"_

_LoneStar: "..."_

_Talis: "LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "..."_

_Kalin: "LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "..."_

_Xaltis: "T, I think you broke him! Good job, now how is he supposed to finish telling our story?"_

_Talis: "It's not my fault! I didn't know he would react that way!"_

_Kalin: "I knew we should've left you tied up..."_

_Xaltis: "While we try to fix our dear writer, I'll do the addressing. Special thanks to hajikurazaki19, first of all, for allowing us to meet Roxel, Soriku, and Asmuth, and also for writing us into your story. We all love you, Haji! Also, special mention to Haji for correctly guessing who the final voice in Chapter 4 was! We're all super excited to see what more you write in Krystahl Kingdom, so keep on writing! To the rest of the readers, just keep reading and reviewing, because that's the only way we'll get any better at this. Who knows, enough reviews and maybe LoneStar'll snap out of his stupor!"_

_LoneStar: "..."_

_Xaltis: "Umm...anyway, salus in lux lucis!" =)_


	7. Dive into the Heart

_Kalin: "Is LoneStar still broken?"_

_LoneStar: **sitting in a corner, rocking like he's insane** "..."_

_Xaltis: "I think so, man...Talis, you broke him something terrible, how could you, man?"_

_Talis: "Again, not my fault, how was I supposed to know calling him on that would hurt his feelings?"_

_Kalin: "Who are you to call him on something that he totally did on purpose? It's called 'bringing things full-circle, you twit! Now you broke the only person willing to tell our story!"_

_Xaltis: "Smooth move, T."_

_Talis: "Shut up, you two!" **walks over to LoneStar's corner **"LoneStar? Are you OK? I'm sorry I called you on your masterful plan...will you forgive me?"_

_LoneStar: **still rocking** "..."_

_Talis: "LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: **unintelligible** "...chapter..."_

_Talis: "What was that?"_

_LoneStar: "I said, I'll talk to you next chapter. Now, bring me some soda, sitting in this corner all day has made me thirsty."_

_Talis: "Yes, sir!" **runs off, eager to get forgiveness**_

_Kalin: "LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "Yes, Kalin?"_

_Kalin: "You're messin' with him, aren't you?"_

_LoneStar: "How'd you guess? **Smiles**_

_Xaltis: "LoneStar, you sly son-of-a-gun...I am proud to be your character." **bows**_

_LoneStar: "Stop with the accolades and do my disclaimer, you flatterer." **laughs**_

_Kalin: "Chairman LoneStar does not own Kingdom Hearts, the Heartless, Square Enix, Disney, the songs "So Scandalous" by Sphere of Influence and "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz..."_

_LoneStar: "...or the OC's Roxel, Asmuth, and Soriku. Those belong to my favorite FanFiction writer and critic, hajikurazaki19. Nearing the end of Krystahl Kingdom is making me depressed, by the way, Haji!"_

_Xaltis: "...but he totally owns the three of us, and pwns Talis, as he just proved to us. Note to self: Don't question LoneStar's methods..." **shivers slightly**_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Character Introduction!

Casper Evans

Age: 19

Height: 6' 5"

Physical Appearance: Light-gray eyes, short, spiky light blond hair

Attire: Midnight-blue vest, baby blue T-shirt, dark blue jeans, blue and white sneakers

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter VII: Dive into the Heart

_**A sword, a shield, a staff. Three weapons, three pedestals, three choices. One destiny, one future, one journey. Do not be afraid; your time of strength and rebirth has arrived.**_

_**Your destiny is once again in your hands, so choose wisely. There is no reset button this time.**_

The caring voice that seemed so long distant yet so close in memory returns yet again to guide him towards his future.

"OK, so there's the sword..." Unimpressive in its design, the Dream Sword does not appeal to the aesthetic. A simple bronze hilt with blue rainguard and small emblem in the middle, made of three black tangent circles, two small and one slightly larger. A normal silver blade finishes off the sword. However, this sword exudes a strange glow, signaling more than meets the eye.

"Then there's the shield..." A black shield with red trim and the same emblem, larger and centered on the shield. The same aura of hidden power impresses upon him as he eyes the shield in wonder. The Dream Shield.

"And, last but not least, the staff...looks kinda cool, actually..." A mostly green staff with tan ends. A wide brown disk separates the cyan 3-D emblem of the head from the rest of the Rod. The Dream Rod has a more interesting aura than the other two weapons, one of strength originating from odd circumstance.

_**Choose one and refuse one; your path will then be set. No turning back, no repeats.**_

"It's pretty obvious what my choice is gonna be. What remains is the matter of what my refusal will be..." He walks up to the third pedestal and picks up the Dream Rod. "Magic's my forte, can't deny that, so why not embrace it?"

_**The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Are you sure about this choice?**_

"As sure as I could be!" He twirls the staff in his hand. "This thing really is pretty cool."

_**Your choice will be reflected.**_

The staff vanishes in a flash of light as Xaltis walks up to the pedestal on the left. The Dream Shield. "While I love the fact that this is defensive, it's just not my style. Besides, who's gonna get close enough for me to need to use it? Do you hear that? I'm refusing the shield!"

_**The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You refuse this power?**_

"Yes. Yes I do." To emphasize his refusal, Xaltis takes up the shield and pitches it into the darkness as one would throw a Frisbee. It vanishes in the same flash of light as the staff did.

_**You've chosen the power of the mystic and refused that of the guardian. **_All three weapon pedestals disappear into the floor of the platform.

_**Both wise choices. Now, use them to your advantage.**_

Out of the ground on the platform come creatures Xaltis knows all too well: the Heartless. Besides the ever-annoying Shadows and Neoshadows, there came a few Sky Knights and Wizards. "Well then, here we go again..." He puts his hand out in front of him, expecting _Knight's Strength_ to appear before him. When it didn't, Xaltis balked in surprise. "You gotta be kidding me..." He waves his hand in front of himself, tries swinging as if the Key were in his hand. No dice. "I don't have time for this nonsense, I gotta get home!"

Xaltis spins like a top as he rises into the air. Lightning surrounds his spinning form like a force field as his eyes drift closed. "I call down the fires of heaven, white-hot fires that strike without warning, ending whatever existence lies within its path." Hie left arm extends, surrounded by sparks. "Let the very soul of the heavens come forth to eliminate this plague of darkness." Out comes the right arm, also sparking heavily. "Descend, Lightning Storm!" His eyes open, crackling with the very same lightning that envelops him. His fists open, releasing the collected potential energy, his body the one and only conductor for this stormy symphony. The sphere of lightning breaks into pieces and strikes Heartless all around him. (A/N 1)

The defenseless Shadows and Neoshadows are dispatched with ease and some Sky Knights are immobilized by the sparks. The Wizards, however, absorb the electrical energy and use it to summon Crescendoes to aid them in fighting the Keyblade Wielder. "Great...more fun...and my lightning attacks aren't working!" He starts swinging his hand again, hoping to summon the Keyblade. "Where are you, Magnus?" A Wizard sneaks up behind him and shoots a Blizzard spell at his open back, knocking him forward. "Shoot!" He whips around, ice falling from the back of his cloak and, forgetting the Heartless' absorption abilities, shocks the Wizard by holding it. Surprisingly, the Heartless fades into darkness, its captive heart rising into the open air.

Xaltis looks at his sparking palms. "I'm glad no one's here to hear me say this, but what a SHOCKING development!" He runs up to a group of Wizards surrounded by Crescendoes and works his magic, grabbing the Crescendoes by their horn-shaped mouths, filling them with lightning, and throwing them at the Wizards. On impact, the Heartless dissipate. "Yeah! Shock and awe!" He grabs one of the leftover Wizards' staffs and uses it as a bat, knocking Heartless around left and right, a one-man baseball team. He starts singing as he swings his makeshift bat.

_(So you...) can't handle us, so cool, baby, scandalous_

_(I will show you...) what I'm talkin' about, so cool, baby, watch me now!_

He takes out some Sky Knights, conducting electricity through his Heartless bat.

_(And so you...) can't handle us, so cool, baby, scandalous_

_(I will show you...) what I'm talkin' about, so cool, baby, watch me now!_

He twirls the staff in his hands, egging on the Heartless to come after him; unbeknownst to him, though, the staff begins to extend and thin out. The violet and yellow of the original Wizard staff turns silver and black and the winged emblem at the top changes to a silver lion's head. While this change occurs, though, Xaltis is having too much fun smashing Heartless and singing.

_I throw my staff up in the air sometimes, sayin' ay yo! Shock some Shadows!_

He tosses his staff up in the air, its charged body connecting with the Heartless above him and sending them back to darkness. He jumps into the air, catching his staff in his left hand, then lands back on the platform, finally taking a look at his new staff. "Wicked...it's simply designed, yet effective. I got a new staff!" He twirls the staff like a baton, swinging it over his head, under both his arms, then behind his back. "Check it out!" He slams the end of the staff onto the platform and lightning erupts from it in all directions, electrocuting the remaining Heartless in the area. "Oh...snap..." He looks at his staff, eyes filled with awe. "It's like this thing amplifies my magic powers, far better than my swords or my Keyblades...Reverb...that's what I'll call you..."

_**Impressive display of magical prowess, young one. I see that the powers of the Dream Rod have not been wasted on you.**_

"Of course not! I was trained by the best, you know!" His mind flashes to his teacher as he looks up to the "sky".

_**Back to business. You already know your mission. Only one more word of advice before you return to your family. The LoneStar is your guide. When you see it, receive it with open arms; it'll guide you to further destinations.**_

"What does it mean? How will I know what it looks like?"

_**When you see it, you will know...the LoneStar's closer to you than you realize. Now return home, your family awaits you...**_

"Wait! I have more questions! Where will I find it?" As he voices his queries, a white light envelops him, blinding him and preventing him from questioning the voice any longer. Before he knows it, he's back in Hikari Lux Lucis in the palace's medical ward, being examined by none other than the youngest Chief of Medicine ever, his little sister Shania.

"Why isn't he waking up yet?" She looks over her charts one more time, trying to find something, anything she could have missed. "It's been a week already, how could he be out this long?" Shania walks over to her brother's hospital bed, a weak smile on her face as she rubs his wild blue hair. "At least you're alive, big bro; that's the most important thing...I just wish you would wake up..."

"The most important thing, huh, Shan?" Xaltis whispers to his little sister, using his favorite nickname for her. "I didn't know your sanity was riding on my waking up; if I did, I'd probably have woken up earlier..."

Shania looks down at her oldest brother with tears in her eyes. "Xaltis...are you awake?"

"Nah, just talking in my sleep, little one." He reaches up and twirls one of her curls. "Of course I am, Shan...now when'd you have time to become Chief of Medicine around here?"

She surprises him with a bear hug. "It took you long enough to wake up, you had us all worried sick about you!"

"OK, OK, don't suffocate me, little one. Run along and go tell the others I'm awake so I can sneak out while you're gone, eh?" He gives her a wink, which Shania knew the meaning of all too well.

"You got it, big brother!" Shania can't contain the smile she has as she she starts to run out of the room to do what Xaltis told her to. She turns around for a split second to advise her brother. "Don't go too far, though, X, you're still pretty banged up, so you better be resting at some point today, you got that?"

"Don't worry, Shan, I never do get far. And yes, Mom, I promise, now get out of here, will ya?" He smiles as she runs off. "It never gets old...I missed hanging out with my sister, she was always my favorite sibling." He turns to look at his discarded cloak, sitting in a chair as if a person filled it. "Hmm...when'd they get this off me? Oh well, I don't need it where I'm going." Xaltis finally gets up, his hair falling over his shoulders and slightly covering his eyes. "I've really gotta cut this stuff someday." He leaves his room and starts walking down the hall, each step sending small shocks of pain through his legs, reminding him of the heavy fight against the Births, a fight that nearly cost him his sanity. "Goodness...and she said I was out for a week? I think I may need some more rest...thank goodness the others were there...otherwise, Hikari Lux Lucis may not be standing anymore..." His mind reflects on the only upside of the Birth invasion, his new friends Soriku, Roxel, and Asmuth. "I hope they're all OK, I never got a chance to say goodbye...or spar against Asmuth again." He laughs to himself at this last part of the reflection, remembering the match he had against Asmuth when they first met. "He's got so much potential..."

"OOF!" Sounds of a struggle come from the doorway not far from him, so he peers in to see what the problem is. What he finds is a sight for sore eyes, his best friend Casper, struggling with his hospital bedsheets.

"Damn that nurse for tucking me in so tightly...she's lucky I can't move my legs or I'd get up and strangle her!" Casper finally drops the end of the sheet, defeated, and lays back down.

Standing in the doorway, leaned up against the molding, Xaltis comments on his friend's misfortune. "Is it that difficult to get a sheet off, Evans? I didn't think the 'Brawl King' would lose a fight to some sheets." He smirks at the last statement.

"Oh, shut up, 'Strategy Sultan', you try getting tucked in like this. Get over here so I can hit you." Casper sticks his tongue out at Xaltis, making him laugh even harder.

"You look ridiculous, Cas, cut it out! Laughing hurts!" Xaltis holds his sides in pure mirth as he laughs to his heart's content.

"Ha ha, very funny, X. You haven't seen me in years and the first thing you do when you come back is laugh at me. Real classy, man." Casper gives Xaltis a dark look that quickly changes to a toothy smile. "Get over here, man!"

Xaltis walks over to Casper's bedside, giving his outstretched hand a high-five, followed by their handshake: side-five, then backhand, sliding hands to the elbows, slinging back, then a swing of imaginary swords at each other.

"Nice to see you still remember the handshake, Knight; almost thought you forgot it."

"Forget? The handshake? Stop talking blasphemy, Evans!" Xaltis covers his open mouth in pretend shock before his face grows more serious. "So what exactly are your injuries, man?"

"Well, according to the nurse, it's only a couple of fractures in each leg. It's where the fractures are that's the problem. Hurts like hell, though, which is why I'm glad you popped in. It's boring in this hospital!"

"Glad I could be of assistance, Cas...to tell the truth, I was getting bored, too." He moves his bangs from his eyes.

"Dude, you have got to cut that hair at some point, or you'll end up lookin' like Talis." Both Casper and Xaltis give expressions of mock disgust, reminded of X's longer-haired younger brother.

"I know, I know, I just haven't decided how I want it to look after I cut it. That and then how it'll affect my fighting. I'm so used to having hair in the way of my eyes that it'll be difficult to deal with."

"Yeah, well, that much hair is just absurd. Seriously. Remember how long mine was?" Casper runs his hands through his own short, spiky blond hair, reminiscing on a time when it was much...taller.

"Didn't you almost fall over once in a training exercise?"

"That was because I tripped, not because of my hair!" Casper playfully punches Xaltis in the arm following this response.

"Oh come on, your hair was starting to develop its own gravitational pull, that's how tall it was!"

"OK, now you're exaggerating..." The two friends laugh their heads off, enjoying each other's company after so much time apart.

"Hey, Casper, I can't believe I didn't ask earlier. How's Cassandra?"

"You mean my older sister, your crush since preschool?"

"Shut up, Cas, you know what I mean."

"She's not married yet, if that's what you're wondering." Casper laughs as Xaltis takes his turn and punches him in the arm. "OWW! What was that for?"

"For continuing to maintain that I have a crush on your sister, you know she and I are just friends."

"Oh, please, I've seen the way you looked at her so often, you're smitten, dude."

"Stop messin' with me, Evans. Seriously, how's she doing?"

"Well..." Casper sits up as he tells his tale. "Career-wise, Cassi's part of the Royal Guard now. She's been working with Kalin for quite a while, at least for the time you've been gone."

"Really? Wow, she's gotten far since I left...maybe I should pay her a visit..."

"If you wanna keep your head, I would advise against that. She was not at all pleased after you left, X."

Xaltis looks at him in disbelief. "Was anyone pleased when I left, Cas?"

"No, of course not, but Cassi took it harder than a lot of people. To be honest, I think she took it harder than I did; you're not just my best friend, you know."

"You think she'd give me a chance to apologize? Make amends? "

"Maybe if you get on your knees and beg, she just might...possibly...maybe..."

"Casper..."

"Seriously, man. She was ripping up training dummies for weeks when you left. I think your leaving gave her the drive to finish her training and actually join the Guard."

"Maybe if I bring her some presents? As appeasement?"

"Dude, I don't pretend to know my sister as much as you think; this is all speculation. But I suggest you keep from having her discover your return too soon, or you may not live long enough to enjoy being back."

"Casper Evans, what would I do without you, buddy?"

"Die at the end of my sister's sword...probably. That, or let your hair grow over your whole face." Casper snickers at this little quip.

"Ha ha, impressive. Think that up over the year I was gone?"

"You know, most guys would beat the mess outta their friends for liking their sisters. Don't make me become one of them."

"Right, like that'll happen..."

"Ha! You admit it! I caught ya! X loves Cassi! X loves Cassi!"

Xaltis punches Casper in the arm as his words come out in a hiss. "What are you, a girl? Quit it, Casper!"

"Oh calm down, you baby. It's not like Cassi's suddenly gonna walk through that door after hearing everything we just said or something."

"Who's not gonna walk in the door?"

Casper and Xaltis whip around quickly, a noticeable sigh of relief released from Xaltis when their eyes rest on the form of his sister instead of Casper's in the doorway.

"Shania! Don't scare me like that!"

"Geez, guys, your faces are white as sheets, you'd think you saw a ghost..."

Under his breath, Casper mutters, "No, but what we thought you were could've been worse..."

"No, but still, Shan, we didn't expect you to walk in all of a sudden like that!"

Shania holds up her hands in surrender. "Don't shoot me, X, I just came to check up on Casper, since his nurse tells me that he's a bit of trouble." She shoots an icy glare at Casper.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't give me that look! It's not my fault!"

"Oh? And how are you supposed to get better if you keep biting the hand that feeds you?"

"It's not my fault, Doc. The nurse is crazy!"

"Casper Evans, that is the best nurse on staff and I think I'm gonna take her word over yours, just this once. Now quit giving my nurses trouble or I'll take care of you myself!" She puts her hands on her hips and keeps the icy stare directed at him.

Casper is visibly afraid of Shania despite the advantage he has in age over her, and for good reason. Shania's stare is nothing to take lightly; being a Knight sibling, she can back up any look she gives a person, especially the harsh ones. In a submissive state, Casper has no choice but to comply. "Yes, ma'am...I promise..."

Xaltis looks at his best friend and then at his sister in disbelief and thinks to himself: _When'd Shania get so...hardcore? She's startin' to scare me, too..._

Shania suddenly changes demeanor and her sweet voice returns. "X, you should probably go back to your bed and get some rest. It's been a long week for all of us, probably longest for you. Please get some rest, big bro, for me?"

Xaltis turns to his sister, unable to resist her pleading, worried face. "OK, because you're so worried about me, I'll go rest, but not forever. See you later, Casper; don't give the staff trouble, or I'll sic my sister on you." He heads for the door.

Shania calls to him before he exits the room. "Just don't fall into another coma, got that?"

"Yes, ma'am! See you around, Cas." Xaltis exits his friend's room and walks back up the hallway to his own hospital room. "Time for me to rest my head without falling into another coma." The pain he felt just minutes ago was faded as he walked towards his bed and got in. "Good night, Hikari Lux Lucis." He looks out of the window he just noticed. "Oh...the sun's just coming up? Whoops! Well, good morning then..." With those words, Xaltis drifts off to sleep, no fear of falling comatose.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: Solo Limit _Tempest._

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Kalin: "How do you do that, LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "Do what, Kalin?"_

_Kalin: "End chapters on such smooth cliffhangers?"_

_LoneStar: "This is probably the smoothest one! The others were pretty rough, don't you think?"_

_Kalin: "Maybe a little, but..."_

_**Talis walks in with a tray piled high with food**_

_Kalin: "What up with the tray?"_

_LoneStar: "Just bring it over here, Talis. Want some food, Kalin?"_

_Kalin: "Gladly! Is this more of the payback that I figured you were dealing him?"_

_LoneStar: "Nah, I'm just hungry, really. Dig in, dude."_

_Kalin: "Sweet! Thanks, LoneStar!"_

_LoneStar: "You can have some, too, Talis; we can all share!"_

_Talis: "WHOO!" **grabs the closest sandwich and starts chomping**_

_LoneStar: "Before I dig in too deep, an address to my loving readers and reviewers. The story has only just begun, so don't quit on us yet. There's so much ground to cover, so many questions to answer, so much more fun to be had, so keep lookout for more chapters. Of course, publishing will continue to be sporadic since it's application season_. _Again, wish me luck, people. Salus in Lux Lucis!" _


	8. The Good, The Bad, The Memories

_LoneStar: "I'm back, folks, with Chapter Number VIII ready for review."_

_Kalin: "You sure about that?"_

_LoneStar: "Yeah, pretty sure...unless you have a reason otherwise?"_

_Kalin: "Nope, just makin' sure you're not gonna make a fool of yourself like Xaltis will next chapter."_

_Xaltis: "Shut up, Kalin, before I make a fool of your face."_

_Kalin: "Really? Make a fool of my face? Is that your best comeback?"_

_Xaltis: "Don't blame me, I don't write this stuff! **looks sideways at LoneStar**_

_LoneStar: "What was that, X? You want me to call **her **on you?"_

_Xaltis: "No! No, that's OK, LoneStar, I'm content with the current arrangements!"_

_LoneStar: "That's what I thought, now do the disclaimer, you two."_

_Xaltis: "Chairman LoneStar doesn't own Disney, Square Enix, or Kingdom Hearts (except for his copies of the games)..."_

_Kalin: "But he does own us, the OCs he made specially for this fanfic! Have fun reading!"_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter VIII: The Good, the Bad, the Memories

Character Introduction!

Cassandra Evans

Age: 20

Height: 5' 11"

Physical Appearance: Dirty-blonde straight hair with eye-covering bangs, hazel eyes

Attire: Light-gray tank top, dark gray jacket and gray denim pants, gray high-heeled boots

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

"You got a letter from _who _now?" Kalin's questioning voice rings in the Throne Room.

"As I said, I received a letter from King Mickey Mouse of Disney Castle regarding..." Queen Raina looks haggard as she exokains the situation to Kalin.

"Hold on, hold on. King? Mouse? What?"

"Kalin, how many times do we have to go through this? King...Mickey...Mouse!"

"A mouse, King? How is that possible?"

"What, did you think that only people could have kingdoms?"

"Well, considering that I've never known any different, yes, I safely assumed that!"

"So much to learn...anyway, King Mickey Mouse sent me a letter regarding that big light show we got the other day, the meteor shower? It seems that worlds are losing their hearts once again, meaning that some form of darkness has been released on the universe, releasing the Heartless from their slumber."

"Great, just great. Darkness is enveloping the universe and I'm stuck here, AGAIN."

"Oh, shut up, Kalin, it's not as if you can do anything to stop it without a Keyblade. You're about as useless as a regular person out there without one. Shoot, I have one and I still can't do anything since I haven't been trained." The echo of footsteps causes Kalin to turn around and see a tall dirty-blonde-haired woman walking towards them, hair swishing back and forth in front of her hazel eyes. Her dark gray jacket barely covers her low-cut gray tank top, which shows off quite a bit of her toned midriff. Her dark gray jeans hug her frame perfectly but seem not to be at all uncomfortable as her gait is sharp and noticeable, thanks in part to her gray high-heeled boots. A slight scowl crosses her face as she approaches the pair.

"Nice to see you too, Cassi. I hope your sparring practice went well." Kalin seems slightly put off by the woman's appearance.

Her scowl turns into a full-on frown as she leaps the remaining gap between them, sabre drawn. Kalin barely has time to bring up his own to defend himself before she is at his throat bearing down on him. "what did I tell you when we started working together? It's Cassandra, not 'Cassi', got that, Knight? Just because your big brother's screwin' the Queen doesn't mean I would hesitate to rip you a new one."

Queen Raina, already harried from the startling news from the King of Disney Castle, is absolutely livid once Cassandra's outburst is complete. "Cassandra Evans! First of all, stand down! Remove your sword from Kalin's throat immediately! Secondly, don't you ever make a comment like that in my presence again. I may be younger than you, but I will not tolerate such disrespect from anyone, least of all from you! Do you understand? If you don't, I won't hesitate to rip you a new one, regardless of how 'beneath' me it is. This rapier at my waist isn't just for show, you know."

Cassandra re-sheathes her sabre, turns to the Queen, and bows. "My apologies, Your Majesty. I forgot my place." She turns to Kalin, a dark glower on her face. "You and I will settle this later." Turning back to Queen Raina, she queries, "So what is going on, Your Majesty?"

Raina releases a heavy sigh as she sits back down in her throne and looks to Cassandra with sad eyes. "Worlds are falling to darkness, and the Keyblade Master, sorry, Keyblade Masters, are nowhere to be found." (A/N 1)

"No Keyblade Master? Then how are we supposed to fight the Heartless?"

Kalin steps up, hoping to solve the dilemma. "Your Highness, I don't know if you remember; I know that battle is one we all want to forget, but we learned that both of my brothers are Keyblade Wielders. Couldn't they do it? Or at least go in search of the Keyblade Masters?"

"I'm well aware of the current status of your brothers as Wielders, Kalin. However, at this juncture, I do not feel that it's the wisest decision to send them away into who knows where after they've just returned."

"Again, excuse my saying, but isn't that their decision? I mean, they could be the universe's only hope, especially if, as the King told you, the Keyblade Masters are nowhere to be found. No one could be more concerned for them than I can, but Talis and Xaltis are grown men...almost. They should at least be allowed to know what they could do before it's decided that they can't do it."

"Wait a second, Talis and Xaltis? Aren't they dead?"

"No, they returned a week ago and fought at the Second Battle at the Citadel, didn't you know?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up, rewind. Xaltis came back...to Hikari Lux Lucis...to this castle...and he didn't come to see me?" Cassandra's visage, normally somewhat angry to begin with, is now one of pure rage. "Not even a letter, or some words? You know, 'Cassandra, I'm back'? Or something? Xaltis Torrance Knight, I'm going to kill you!" Before the Queen or Kalin could stop her, she runs out of the Throne Room, smoke seemingly pouring from her ears.

Kalin looks on in distress as his partner leaves the room, fear in his eyes. He turns to the Queen in silence, but his eyes say 'What have I done?'

Queen Raina tries to comfort him. "Whatever you're feeling is in no way even gonna come remotely close to what Xaltis is gonna feel in the next few minutes if she's really as angry as she seems. Let's just hope he's rested enough to get out of this before she finds him."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Carla and Talis walk through the palace gardens, talking about their recent experiences. Carla, her hair in a ponytail and her jacket shed, runs a ways ahead to a bench in front of one of the garden's fountains and takes a seat, motioning for Talis to hurry up and do the same.

Talis cups his hands around his mouth as he yells to her. "I'm comin', Carla!"

She calls back to him. "Hurry up, slowpoke!"

Talis, though itching to continue talking to his sister, slows down a bit to take in his surroundings. In the back of his mind a memory of years past returns to him.

_~~~~~~Flashback begins~~~~~~_

A black haired little boy with brown shorts and a white T-shirt runs though the gardens, being chased by a shorter brown-haired girl in a white sundress.

"I'm gonna get you, Talis! We're not done playin' our game!" the girl yells at the boy.

"I don't wanna play that game anymore, it hurts my arms!" the boy, Talis, calls back while trying to increase the distance between them.

"Stop being such a little baby! I don't even hit that hard!" The little girl starts to speed up, the gap between them closing fast.

The smaller Talis turns around just in time to see the girl jump him, their forward momentum causing them to roll a few times before coming to a stop, the girl on top of Talis. He looks up at her with a goofy grin rivalling that of a certain spiky-haired Keyblade Master. "Thanks a lot, Raina, now my mommy's gonna kill me for gettin' this shirt dirty!" The little girl, Raina, stays silent and smiles down at him. "Why ya starin' at me, Rai?"

"You have nice eyes, Talis. They're really green, like this grass. It looks beautiful..."

"Uhh...thanks, Rai, your eyes are really nice, too, and they're greener than mine...but, could we get up now?"

"No! I'm not done looking at your eyes yet!"

The two kids lay on the grass floor of the garden maze for hours, staring into each other's eyes as the sun sets behind them.

_~~~~~~Flashback ends~~~~~~_

The memory fades as Talis reaches the bench and sits next to his sister, who now sits cross-legged and faces him.

"Took you long enough, I was starting to think you were frozen in place over there!"

"Sorry, sis, just had some stuff on my mind."

"Stuff...or Queen Raina?"

"To be honest, both...I just don't understand what's up with her lately. Her personality changes like the wind and I don't know if I can continue to keep up. Things were so much easier and carefree when we were kids. Now things are just complicated. Stupid pheromones, stupid puberty, stupid biology."

"Talis, I've seen you two stuck together like glue through thick and thin, through hell and high water, but you've gotta realize that she's not just Princess Rai anymore; she's Queen now. The weight of an entire kingdom and all that responsibility rests on her shoulders. She's probably just super-stressed. Try doing something nice for her, take her out like you used to or something."

He looks at his little sister with amazement evident on his face. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Nora..."

Carla smiles, remembering a time when Talis always called her by that name. "You'd be hopelessly lost when it comes to women, that's for sure."

"Thanks, Nora, really." The two share a hug. "Now, I believe I owe you a story."

"Yes! Yes you do! I wanna know what happened after that explosion!"

"Well, it was like this- " Talis' story is interrupted by a shrill yell, striking fear into both of their hearts.

"XALTIS TORRANCE KNIGHT! I AM GOING TO TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

Carla holds her brother in fear. "Talis, was that...?"

"Yes, Carla. Yes it was. I hope X got enough rest, that's for sure."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

In his hospital room, Casper Evans looks out at the Sun, towering over the castle, bright and beautiful. However, his thoughts are not on this beautiful sight, but on something, or someone, beneath that same Sun.

"I'M GONNA RIP OUT YOUR BONES AND USE 'EM TO PICK MY TEETH!"

Casper hears the ranting and speaks a silent prayer for his best friend. "Get outta here, man. Wherever you are, get outta here, please, X..."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A few doors down, Xaltis Knight is fast asleep, letting his battle-scarred body take a breather, so to speak. His sleep is anything but restful, however, and he wakes suddenly, sweating and flustered.

"OK, that's it. No more of this hospital food before bed; that stuff'll give you nightmares that scar you for life." He pushes the food cart away from his bed and gets up. "Maybe I'll go check out Casper again. I'm sure he could use some company." Before he could cross the room to open the door, though, it's kicked open and a raging figure barges in.

"Hello, X." Rage incarnate stands at the door, calm tones belying the anger Xaltis sees in her eyes.

"Oh...hello, Cassi...I'm...home!" He smiles to hide his growing nervousness.

All of a sudden, the rage is obvious, the calm exterior twisted into a sneer scarier than any he's seen in a long time. Her normally straight, neat hair is wild and flying around as if she ran the whole way there. "You're home? You're home? Is that all you have to say?"

"Umm...how are you? Looking...sprightly, I see." Xaltis sits down slowly on his bed, not taking his eyes off of the angry woman in front of him for a second.

"Did you care?" Cassandra returns to speaking softly, her angry tone still apparent, but mixed with something else that Xaltis couldn't quite place.

"Did I care? What – what are you talking about, Cassi?"

"It's Cassandra! And did you care? At all? About us? You left without a word, without even saying goodbye, you didn't tell your brothers, you didn't tell Casper, and you didn't tell me! What the hell is that, Xaltis? What kind of friend does that, huh? Explain yourself!" Her eyes glaze over, betraying the second emotion.

"Cassi – I mean, Cassandra..." He starts to get up. "I didn't mean to leave so abruptly, I wasn't thinking clearly, or about anyone. My aims were my own and very selfish. I lost sight of what was important to me..." He looks up at Cassandra, who's now crying silently. "Cassi? Are you crying?"

Cassandra looks up at him, tears in her eyes, and walks slowly towards him. When she stops, inches from his face, she punches him hard in the gut. "Why'd you leave? Do you realize how long I waited for you to come home, you selfish jerk? How many changes I had to make to my life because you left? How much I had to change as a person? Why would you do that?" The last words are said almost in a whisper.

Doubled over in pain, Xaltis' words come in spurts. "Like I said – I – was selfish – not thinking...oh, pain!" He falls back onto his bed, panting. "I'm – terribly sorry, Cassi – I never meant...to hurt anyone...especially not you..." He struggles to sit up in order to look at her again, bearing the pain to say his last words completely, "You're the last person I'd ever want to hurt; you're far too important to me."

"Then explain to me why you left. Now." She grabs a chair from the corner of the room and sits down, waiting for his explanation.

"Well, it really all started about three years ago, but I'll skip to the climax of the story. One year ago, right out there on those training grounds." He points out of the window towards the horizon, beyond which lies the training arena.

_~~~~~~Flashback begins~~~~~~_

A younger Talis, Kalin, and Xaltis spar each other with Markos looking on, his gray hair less apparent. Talis wields _Nensho_, Kalin with _Ensho_, and Xaltis with a green-and-yellow palette swap of the two. _Ijona_, it was called.

Markos yells out to the trio. "Combine your strengths! Augment each other's attacks to make a more powerful one!"

The trio nod as Kalin and Talis point their swords at Xaltis as he points his own towards the sky.

"Firaga!" "Blizzara!" "Aeroja!" Talis' fire and Kalin's ice fly towards Xaltis in a crisscrossing pat as he spins his sword at blinding speeds to create a large whirlwind.

"Now, Xaltis! Make sure you hold that whirlwind, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" He keeps spinning the sword, alternating hands to keep the whirlwind steady. However, the fire bursts from Talis and the ice shots from Kalin continue to phase out on contact with the wind. Xaltis yells over the howl of the wind to his brothers. "Guys! Can you make streams instead of the shots?"

Talis nods silently as he changes his tack, shooting a steady stream of fire from his sword that curls around the winds created by Xaltis' sword. The curling fire soon fuses with the extreme winds, creating a flaming vortex. "Kalin!"

Kalin nods. "Got it!" He takes in a deep breath, pointing his sword directly at the winds and releases a wide column of snowy magic.

By this time, Xaltis is now holding the whirlwind directly above his head, his eyes focused on his spinning hands. _Nothing else matters, _he thinks as his eyes close in concentration. _Nothing to distract me from this. _The winds, under Xaltis' complete control, begin taking shape, morphing into a dragon, seemingly emanating from his very hands with how fast his blade spins. The dragon rears its head and lets out a roar that shatters everyone's eardrums, except Xaltis', of course, because he is far too entranced to even hear it.

Kalin, taken aback by the sudden appearance of a dragon, regardless of tangibility, suddenly increases the strength of his blizzard spell, freezing it entirely above Xaltis' head, creating a giant ice dragon sculpture, weight and all. As it falls, the only words anyone can get out come from Kalin. "Xaltis! Get outta the way!"

Xaltis' eyes open just in time to see the frozen being falling towards him; however, he has no time to move entirely out of his path and it shatters over him, stabbing him in several places with large ice shards. The pain induces a feral yell, scaring eveyone including himself. Through the pain, he grasps his sword, fallen next to him, and smashes one of the icicles lodged in his leg before slipping into unconsciousness due to his blood loss. Unconsciousness, however, does not shut off the mind...

_It's happened again...we, the most powerful of the three, get hurt AGAIN! How long are we gonna take this?_

"What is this 'we' business? I'm the one who has the searing pain in my legs, not you!"

Xaltis' mind's eye opens and he finds himself standing on a tropical island, palm trees touching the very sky above his head, blue seas that stretch for miles, and a jungle that begins about a mile inland. He stands near the sea, his dark blue hair flowing softly in the island breeze.

A gray elliptical portal opens in from of him. "But you forget...your pain _is _my pain..." A figure steps out of the portal, dressed in the same outfit as Xaltis, only in full black and with a hooded sweatshirt. The new arrival removes his hood and reveals his face. "...because I am you..."

"What do you want?"

"So you're mad, then?"

"Of course I am, I just got stabbed through like twenty times with some ice!"

"What's with all the hostility, X? Hate yourself that much?"

"You're not me, you just think you're me for some odd reason."

"Oh? I just think I'm you? Then why do I look exactly like you? Dress exactly like you? Sound exactly like you? Explain that to me then." The darker doppelganer gives Xaltis a defiant look, a smirk on his face.

"Don't get smart with me; I know you only take that form because it gets on my nerves." Xaltis gives his copy the same look.

"Ha ha, very funny, now you're imitating me? And you call me the copycat. What are you, a mirror?"

"You'd think you were the mirror seeing as how you're trying to be me."

"We're way off-topic now, my point is, you're still unconscious which, for me, happens far too often. I'm sure you feel the same."

"Accidents happen, CopyCat. Can't help them, just roll with the punches."

CopyCat, as Xaltis decides to call him, conjures a chair from the ether of Xaltis' mind and site down, arms crossed. "You can't possibly believe that. I wouldn't be sitting here if you did." He brings out another chair and motions for Xaltis to sit down, which he does.

"You've obviously got it wrong."

"I know for a fact that you're spouting complete crap, and you know it too. Time and again, you take the blunt of the injury from failed techniques. You take the blame for failed missions. How can you stand...sit there and take that?"

"You think I just _take _it?"

"I've _seen_ you just take it! You're easily the most powerful of your brothers; there's no question of that fact. Why you consistently take this crap is beyond my comprehension. Which means it's absolutely beyond yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your apparent obsession with being the fall guy is an inevitability. It's not that you won't stop it – you can't."

"Don't be ridiculous...if I don't wanna take the blame, I don't. When I do it's because it's my fault. Like today."

CopyCat looks dumbfounded. "You can't be serious! You think your injuries today were your fault? Kalin was the one who didn't shoot the ice right!"

"If I hadn't..."

"You stop right there, don't even finish that sentence. You did everything right, you got that? You should have seen that dragon; it was incredible." CopyCat's expression lights up as he describes it. "In all my years living in this brain of yours, never have I seen you display such raw power or such control over it...how did you do that?" He looks genuinely interested.

Xaltis, confused, attempts to respond. "I...I don't really know...I didn't even know I did that..." He looks towards CopyCat. "By the way..."

"Six. Just call me Six." He smiles to himself, as if he knows something Xaltis doesn't.

"So...Six...do you know how I was able to do that? The dragon thing?"

Six's face grows dark for the slightest fraction of a second before he answers X's question. "I can honestly say I have no idea. How did it feel, channeling all that energy?"

It's Xaltis' turn to light up as he goes back over that moment. "It felt incredible! I actually felt at one with my sword and with the wind and even with Talis' flames...if that ice had just been perfect..."

Six shakes his head gravely. "Such a shame. I can only imagine what you could have accomplished had that actually completed its course." He gets up from his chair. "Anyways, I've taken up far too much of your time; you should probably wake up now."

"Wake up? You mean..."

"You didn't think this whole conversation happened in a real setting, did you? You've been knocked out for about an hour now. That was some heavy blood loss in such a short interval. You should probably get up before your family takes you for dead." Six opens up a portal, same as the one by which he entered this plane, and backs up towards it. "Don't forget this conversation, X. You've still quite a lot to learn from me." The vision starts to fade as Xaltis wakes up...or rather, as he puts his flashback on hold.

_~~~~~~Flashback ends~~~~~~_

A/N 1: I decided to take a few creative liberties based on the BBS Secret Movie here, so my implication won't make much sense unless you watch it. ( Hearts)

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Talis: "Why'd you end the flashback so abruptly, LoneStar?"_

_Kalin: "Same reason he always does, to leave us all hanging."_

_LoneStar: "Oh, stop complaining, you guys act like you don't already know how this story ends!"_

_Xaltis: "Actually, they don't. This is the part of the story that I've only told you and Cassi."_

_LoneStar: "Oh, so you've been holdin' out on 'em? Welp, looks like you two'll have to wait just like everyone else to know what happens next..."_

_Kalin: "No fair!"_

_Talis: "Total crap!"_

_Xaltis: **totally uninterested** "Just deal with it..."_

_LoneStar: Anyway, barring some kinda interruption here again, just wanna give shoutouts to hajikurazaki19 and DeadShut for their awesome work on The Nobody Virus; it's now my absolute favorite story on this domain. Also, from here on in, I'm gonna have a quote of the chapter. This first one's gonna be at the end, but they'll usually be at the beginning. Today's quote is by Victor Hugo."_

_"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor."_


	9. Fighting with Yourself

_Kalin: "You and these sporadic updates. You're really gonna lose your fanbase, LoneStar."_

_LoneStar: "No way, man. If they're faithful, which I know they are, my readers won't leave just because I haven't updated in a while."_

_Kalin: "Dude, it's been a month and a half!"_

_LoneStar: "Oh hush, you're just mad because the last chapter you were in involved you screwing stuff up."_

_Kalin: "..."_

_Talis: "Oooooh, he got you there, Kal."_

_Kalin: "Shut up, Talis."_

_Talis: "So you mad, huh, Kal?"_

_Kalin: "Don't make me come over there, you..."_

_Talis: "Bring it on, Salt King! I got all your talk right here!" **pounds his chest**_

_Kalin: "That's it!" **jumps over the couch and tackles Talis**_

_LoneStar: "Shania! Can you come put a leash on these two?" _

_Shania: "Sure, LoneStar! And congrats on finishing you college apps! I know that's a huge weight off of your shoulders!" **tries to break up Talis and Kalin**_

_LoneStar: "Thanks, Shan; it feels great to be done with those. Of course the war's not over yet; I've still got the FAFSA and all that, plus scholarship apps and...wow, I still do have a lot left. Snap..."_

_Shania: "It's not that bad, LoneStar! At least your next deadline's not 'till March!"_

_LoneStar: "True story! Thanks for the reminder! I feel better now. Anyway, while I leave these two to have their brotherly fight, I'll remind you all that I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or this quote. Keep it DOWN over there!"_

_"What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do."_

_-John Ruskin_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Chapter IX: Fighting with Yourself

Xaltis sits on his hospital bed, his captive audience of one listening intently to the tale he unravels as an explanation for his disappearance. As he stops suddenly, his stomach growling from hunger, Cassandra's visage presents disappointment.

"The story's over already? That didn't tell me anything except how crazy you are! I still don't know why you left, or why you went evil on us!"

"I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it! But I can't get to it on an empty stomach, now can I?"

"Good...good point."

Xaltis reaches over to the meal cart that he pushed aside just an hour before and grabs a grapefruit, which he peels with gusto as he continues his story. "Thank you. Now. I just told you about the nearly losing my leg in training so let me skip to about two months ahead. Mind you, that's two months of Six spouting all kinds of things into my head...I still don't understand why he had me call him that, considering he was claiming to be my other side...anyway, no need to worry about _that_ nonsense anymore." He takes a bite out of the grapefruit and continues his story.

_~~~~~~Flashback begins~~~~~~_

In the two months between this and the last flashback, winter has fallen upon Hikari Lux Lucis. Snow falls beautifully, hiding the already-white castle from view, at least from anyone who didn't already know where it was. Two figures, identical in stature and appearance trade blows, this serene landscape their battlefield. Silent, save for the ringing of clashing swords and the rush of wind, the warriors are as swift as the snow that falls around them. One runs at the other, sword poised for a slash at the neck. However, just when it appeared that it would connect, the second figure launches himself into the air, stretching his arms out to his sides and surrounding himself with wind. The snow, one with the wind around the two fighters, begins to circle the airborne mage as the wind collects around him, spinning around him in a cyclone.

"Hurricane Tundra!" The column suddenly hardens and tilts about 120°, pointed directly towards the grounded figure. Inside the frozen column, Xaltis smiles to himself. "You're mine now." The column's end sharpens to a point and speeds toward the other figure, who removes his hood.

"That's what you think; then again, that's what I think, too. Frozen Twilight!" Snow surrounds his sword's edge, extending it and becoming almost a blade of its own, sleek and transparent like ice. He slashes at the oncoming column of ice, breaking it into pieces which fall to his sides. Once his slashes reveal his target, he rockets from the ground, sword at this side. "You're going down, X!" As he rushes towards his opponent, however, he notices the change in the snow patterns, or rather that the snow has stopped falling around him. "What...what is this?"

"Oh, nothing...nothing except what I call HEAVEN'S STORM!"

"What?" The sword-toting X looks up higher to find that the X he was chasing was a fake, and that his real opponent was in the clouds, surrounding himself with them and absorbing their energies. The doppelganger's eyes open, glowing yellow, as the energy translates itself into white blades of light that surround his person. "No you don't!" The ice-blade X continues his flight, now in the correct direction, towards the glowing X, ice-blade pointed directly at his arm.

"Frozen Twilight Strike!" "Storm Bullet!"

The ice-blade X stabs the arm of the glowing X just as he releases the pent-up energy blades, all pointed at the ice-blader. Both fall away from each other, but toward the ground at high speed. They both hit the ground and one X disappears in a flash of light. The other grabs his arm and feels the blood beginning to flow from the wound, staining the snow beneath him. "Cure..." Green tendrils cover his arm as a yellow flower opens above him, showering him with healing sparks. He gets up, dusts the snow off of his cloak, puts his hood back on, and walks back towards the castle, still hidden beneath all the snow. Talis, clad in his winter jacket (a hooded version of his regular jacket), comes to greet him.

"Dude! That was awesome! I didn't know you could do that! Can you teach me to multiply?"

Xaltis dismisses it with a wave of his hand. "It's no big deal; I picked up that trick a while back. Just don't tell anyone, OK?"

Talis looks at his brother in surprise. "Don't tell anyone? Why not? That could totally help us with our-"

Xaltis grabs him by the collar and lifts him off of the ground. "Don't...tell anyone...OK?"

Talis' green eyes go wide in shock as he looks down at the seething face of his older brother. "OK, OK, no telling anyone, got it! Can you put me down now?"

Xaltis lets Talis go and even fixes his collar. "Good boy, Talis." He summons Tradewinds. "It'd be a shame if I'd have to use this on you, wouldn't it?"

Talis looks at the sword, then at Xaltis, then back to the sword. "Is it me, or does your sword look different?"

Xaltis looks at the sword in his left hand. "I honestly didn't realize it...it does look different."

The former yellow parts of the sword were now a darker shade of green and the white was turned black.

"I guess I can't really call this 'Tradewinds' anymore, now can I?" He turns the sword over in his hands. That's too nice for this guy...how about 'Galeforce'? Yeah...that's better." He turns to Talis. "Does that sound good?" His gray eyes twinkle as he asks this.

"Sure, bro, I don't see why not..." As Talis responds, Xaltis disappears in a cloud of black smoke. "What..." In the next moment, Talis was pinned to the ground by Xaltis' boot, Galeforce pointed in his face, and a triumphant Xaltis staring down at him. "Too slow, little bro. Don't forget Rule #3."

"Always be prepared for an attack, regardless of the attacker or timing thereof." Talis crosses his eyes at the sword point in his face. "Could you...?"

"Oh! Sure, T." Xaltis releases his sword from his grip and it dissipates into the ether. "Need me to help you up?"

"Nah, no need. But I'd appreciate it if you stop stepping on my chest; I can't breathe."

"My bad!" Xaltis moves his foot from on top of Talis' stomach and Talis gets up.

The pair start walking back towards the palace. "When'd you get so sword-happy, X? I don't recall you being so aggressive."

"No idea, man. I've just felt the need to test my strength a lot more lately. Can't explain it."

"Eh, I guess it doesn't matter. We aim to get stronger, right?"

"Yup! Hey, we got any food back at the Garage?"

Talis lights up at this question. "Oh yeah! You're in for a treat; Kalin was cooking all day!"

"Yes! Kalin's always making somethin' tasty! Let's go!"

"I'll race ya!"

"Bring it!"

_STOP!_

"Actually, uh, you go on ahead; I'll meet you there, but you better make sure I get at least two plates!"

"No promises, X! See ya at dinner!" He taps his left heel against his right foot and jumps into the air, his hoverboard popping out of the soles. "And I'll show you how I made these babies later, too!" He rides away, snow covering his exit.

Xaltis stops walking. "Why'd you stop me, X? I'm hungry!"

Another X-clone pops out of the body, somewhat furious. "What the hell was that, Six?"

"I have no idea, what you're talking about, X."

"You overshadowed me! Took over my body! I want it back!"

"Oh, that...see, I just wanted to test out a hypothesis I've been mulling over for a while. I wanted to see how much of your power I could channel myself. Apparently, I use your body better than you do...hahaha, how about that?"

"Shut up, you...and what are you talking about? I can't clone myself."

"Yes...yes, you can. Otherwise, I couldn't do it. I've told you before, you have way more power than you realize."

"Wait...so you're saying I can do that? I can learn to do that?"

"Well..."

"Come on! That would be so cool to learn! I'd always have one up on my bros, scare my friends...it'd be awesome!"

"I don't know, X, you seem too keen on this."

"Like you said, it's my power; I should be able to use it. So why not teach me how? I think I deserve it."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Six, I'm sure; teach me what I want to know."

Six stares him down, seeing the fire of determination in his eyes. "You're not gonna back down, are you? Fine, I'll teach you, but you have to promise to do whatever I say. No exceptions, no discussion. Understand?"

Without a pause, Xaltis responds. "Yes, I understand. Teach me how to control my powers. And no leaving anything out either."

"You got it, Shaggy. Now let's go; I'm hungry!" Six fades back into Xaltis' body, returning control to Xaltis.

"Fine, man, let's get outta here." Xaltis rolls up his sleeves and pours his energies into an Aero spell, launching himself into the air and towards the Knight Garage.

_~~~~~~Flashback ends~~~~~~_

Cassandra's face is stuck in a look of wonder as she hangs on every word of Xaltis' story. As he weaves his tale, the grapefruit that he was eating is now nothing but a rind. His face is anything but devoid of emotion as he expresses every detail with gusto.

"So I flew back to the garage using my Aero spell and enjoyed dinner. Boy, Kalin cooked some great food that night...but that's not important. What's important is that my secret training was beginning. With that came my drawing closer to the darkness in my heart."

"Of course it is; I know all that. Move on with the story!"

"Stop being so impatient, Cassi; the story's gotta flow or it won't make sense. Let's see, that was the end of that year so we're right before I left..."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

As Xaltis continues to tell his story to Cassandra in hopes of sufficiently explaining himself, Talis and Carla are still in the palace gardens, having a conversation of their own.

"You think she found him, T?"

"I don't know, Carla; her voice died down, that's for sure. Hopefully that's a good thing. I just found X, I don't wanna lose him again."

"Point taken, Cassandra hasn't been the most pleasant of people since he left the last time."

"I wonder why she's so darn pissed though; it's not like she's the only one he left behind or anything."

"Well, you _could _always ask Kalin, then. He'd possibly know why."

"Explain, Nora."

"You know he's been her training partner and co-bodyguard for the past year now; if anyone would know what was up with her, it'd be him."

"That's right!" He tousles Carla's hair. "When'd you get to be so smart, Carla?"

Carla laughs and shoves him playfully. "Stop messing with my hair! You know how long it takes me to get it straight like this? I wasn't born with straight hair, you know!"

"Oh calm down, Nora! Besides, I liked your hair better when it was curly. Ever since you started straightnening it, it got kinda boring."

"It's not like I don't leave it curly sometimes, Tal."

"Yeah, I know; no need to take it to heart, it's just my opinion."

"I always take your opinion seriously, big bro."

"Oh really? Then what about my opinion of wanting a hug from my little sister, gonna take that seriously?"

"I say that you get a hug, but that was soooo corny!" Carla chuckles as she opens her arms for a hug.

"Shut up and take the hug, Carla; no criticizing the love." He hugs her then gives her a small noogie.

"What'd I say about my hair? Gosh! I wish Soriku was here to give you a whooping." (A/N 1)

"Keyblader or not, she couldn't whoop me; I've got age on my side. Let's get to walking; we've been here too long."

"Well then..." She gets up and motions towards one of the paths of the labyrinthine garden. "...age before beauty, my dear older brother!"

"Why you! Come here!" Talis lunges for Carla ans she dodges and runs towards the closest path, her laughter and Talis' yells amplified by the walls of the maze.

Carla think to herself as she evades her brother. _I miss carefree times like this. Sure, there are Heartless or whatever, but that's nothing that we can't handle. I hope these times aren't so shot-lived – _"Ow!" She suddenly trips over a stray vine and hits the grassy floor, which is as soft as a blanket.

"Caught ya!" Talis vaults over the wall of hedge separating them and lands over her. "You OK?"

"Yeah, just tripped on a – hey! Where'd it go?" She looks back and sees no proof of the obstacle.

"Guess the garden's on my side today, Nora. Maybe next time, huh?" He holds out his hand to help her up.

"Did you do that?" Carla is quizzical as she take Talis' hand and gets up.

"What, trip you? Nah, this garden's got a mind of its own. It's part of the reason why I like to come here and think sometimes. It's nice to know that even when you're alone, you've got company."

"So the garden tripped me? Not cool, Mother Nature!" Carla laughs, even as her words seem hostile. "I'm lying; it's actually _really _cool. I want a sentient garden!"

"You think that's cool? Show my sister Formation 4595 – CSK!"

The hedges begin to move and Talis pulls Carla back a few feet. Mere seconds after he does so, a wall of hedges grows where she just stood.

"Whoa! The hedges can move?"

"That's not the best part. Give her a bird's-eye-view!"

"Bird's-eye-view? Talis, no! I'm afraid of – aahhhh!" Before she can say anymore, a chair of plants grows around her and lifts her high into the air. "Oh my gods, Talis! You _know_ I'm afraid of heights!"

"Just calm down and look over the edge of the chair for a second! It's OK, you won't fall!"

Carla obliges, warily, but is then awestruck at what she sees: herself. "How...?" The chair slowly brings her back down, allowing Carla to take several deep breaths as she also takes in the view. As the chair molds back with the garden floor. Xaltis greets her.

"Told you it was awesome, didn't I?"

Carla tackles him with a hug. "Talis, it was beautiful! How did you even set that up?"

"Like I said, I come here to think all the time. I just end up doing this sometimes too. I've got one of each of us."

"You even got the bow I sometimes wear!" She touches the same bow she just happens to be wearing today.

"Well, you gotta remember, it's not all me. This garden's such a good sport letting me rearrange her so often. She's got some serious skills on her own, too. One thing, though. Don't go around telling anyone about this, OK? I don't want everybody knowing what I do in my spare time. Let them think I stick solely to mechanics."

Carla makes an 'X' over her heart. "Cross my heart, big bro. And thank you for sharing this with me." She hugs him again. "It's just so beautiful!"

"Come on, little one. Let's get back to the Garage, huh?"

"Race ya!" She runs off into the maze of hedges again.

"This is my garden, Nora! 8790 – RL, please!" The hedges begin to reform, making a path Talis knows quite well.

"Cheating!"

"Not cheating! Exhausting all options!"

"AKA cheating!"

"Stop claiming that I'm cheating 'cuz you're losing, Carla!"

"Stop cheating 'cuz you can't beat me without it!"

"Too late for accusations; I'm already out!" Talis clicks his heels and his hoverboard carries him into the air, plain as day for Carla to see.

"Tch, dang! How'd you get out so fast?"

"My garden, remember? I know these paths inside and out!"

"Lucky! Just wait 'till I get outta here!"

"No problem, I can wait a couple hours. Haha!"

"No laughing at my misfortune! I'm gonna get you yet, Talis!"

"You wish, Carla!"

"Dang it!" Carla yells as she runs into yet another dead end. "I don't have time for this." _But at least I'm having fun. It's been a while since it was this carefree around here. Knock on wood, or something. No need to jinx it, right?_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: Thanks again for introducing my characters to her, Haji. I love being able to reference other stories in my own. :D

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_Carla: "How could you trap me in the garden like that, Talis? Not cool!"_

_Talis: **shrugs** "It was funny. Don't act like it wasn't fun running around in there."_

_Carla: "I'm gonna hurt you..."_

_Shania: "Oh calm down, Carls. It's not like he left you in there forever, anyway."_

_Carla: "Don't you take his side! Gosh!"  
_

_LoneStar: "Is it really that serious?"_

_Carla: "Easy for you to say! You weren't the one trapped in a garden..."_

_Xaltis: "And why'd you cut off my story, LoneStar? I wasn't done!"_

_LoneStar: "You're not the only one in the story, you know, X. I gotta give everyone else a chance to develop in the eyes of the readers. They don't know the story, remember? I have to present it from all angles."_

_Xaltis: "You've got a point...sorry I doubted you."_

_LoneStar: "It's cool; I'm just as new to this whole thing as you are. Anyway, to address my wonderful readers, thanks for being patient while I cranked out this chapter. Hopefully, Chapter X won't take nearly as long. And everyone, wish Krystal Lily Potter 'Happy Birthday' on the 11th! Salus in Lux Lucis!" _


	10. Insert Story Title Reference Here

_LoneStar: "Finally! This chapter's been burning a hole in my flash drive for a week now!"_

_Talis: "You're tellin' us? You wouldn't stop complaining about it for days!"_

_LoneStar: "Hush, man. My trusted advisors tell me that I should do two things: develop my characters further and introduce the original characters. Now of course, this makes sense, because, for one thing, the reason why we're fans is because we love the Kingdom Hearts characters. Secondly, my characters need development if they're gonna be strong and well-rounded."_

_Kalin: "So how do you intend to go about this, LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "Well, these next few chapters will be dedicated to reconciling you guys with the original stars of the Kingdom Hearts series, along with helping people to understand you more."_

_Talis: "And you think this'll work?"_

_LoneStar: "I hope so. Kingdom Hearts is what brought us all together, so that's what everything comes back to."_

_Xaltis: "Well, I'm behind you, LoneStar."_

_Kalin and Talis: "So are we. Go for it!"_

_LoneStar: "Thanks for having faith in me, guys. Hopefully, this continues to do justice to your story. In the end, this story __does__ belong to you."_

_Kalin: "I'll take the disclaimer this time. Chairman LoneStar owns no part of the Kingdom Hearts games, Square Enix, Disney, or the following quote. He only owns this story and his OCs. Enjoy the chapter!"_

_"All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own." _

_Plutarch_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

**Chapter X: (Insert Reference to Story Title Here)**

Ten years ago, a young man was whisked from his native world as it fell to darkness and tasked by the powers that be with protecting the light of the universe. His best friend and greatest rival became his first and most powerful enemy, controlled by the darkness and, to a lesser extent, his latent desire to travel the worlds. Along the way, the young man made friends with denizens of many worlds, defended the universe against the darkness, and brought his dearest friend back to the light. Fighting side by side, the young heroes defeated the enigmatic Organization XIII as well as the Dark Keyblade Master, Xehanort. With each battle, they became stronger and understood more of the universe and its power as well as the importance of the balance between darkness and light.

While the citizens of Hikari Lux Lucis go about their daily lives in relative peace, the remainder of the universe is in unsurpassed turmoil. Darkness spreads once again, stealing the light of the worlds. The Wielders of Hikari Lux Lucis have no idea of the journey ahead of them, but they surge forward with the same zeal and fervor as all those before them.

In an undisclosed part of the universe, a small craft known as a Gummi Ship traverses the open space, searching for who knows what. Its conductors are two young men, not as young as the Knights, but young all the same. One of them, a spiky-haired brunet, has a serious look on his face, hardened by years of struggle and war. He controls the movements of the Gummi Ship, guiding it around the stray asteroids and other space debris. The other, a long haired silveret, stares out into space as he hangs on to the weapons turret controls, waiting for the first sign of danger to blast it out of the sky.

"So how long have we been flying out here?" The silveret turns to his companion.

"Don't know; been focusin' on the road. I'd say maybe a couple days, though." The brunet keeps his face directed to the large windshield.

"What are we looking for? Just any signs of life?"

"Pretty much. Anyone we can find that hasn't been taken by the Heartless is a good thing."

"So why'd we take off without telling the King? And why'd we take the unregistered Gummi?"

"Because you know he'd come looking for us, or worse, tell us to come back. It's about time we did some of our own searching, you know?"

"I guess." The silveret gets up from his seat at the turrets. "You think we'll find anyone like us?" He summons his weapon, a Keyblade that mimics the darkest of shadows, but sports an angel's wing. _Way to the Dawn_.

"I'd hope so, Riku. We need all the help we can get in this fight. It's been way too long, way too hard, and we've lost far too many lives as it is. The more people who can defend themselves, the better."

"You have a point there, Sora. I just hope we can find someone before _they _do."

"You and me both, man. There's no telling what'll happen if _they_ get their hands on a Keyblade Wielder." With those words, an alarm goes off on the dashboard.

"New world, Sora?"

"I think so, Riku; we're still a bit of a ways away from it, but it's close enough to be on the radar. Looks like it's pretty populated, too. So hopefully a lotta recruits to the cause."

"And so, the heroes bravely face the future and what lies ahead..." The silveret smirks and returns to his seat behind the turret controls.

"Hahaha, very funny, Riku. But you _are_ correct, the plot thickens, in this case. Let's get closer to that world, though. I don't want those Heartless to attack us with so few weapons at the moment. Hopefully this place has a Gummi shop."

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

Meanwhile on Hikari Lux Lucis, life progresses as usual. The Knight brothers, reunited, begin to return to their old routine. After much deliberation, the Queen decided to formally reinstate Xaltis in the Royal Guard.

The turnout for this event is immense. Since all citizens are usually invited to royal events like this, it's hardly a surprise to Arceo's denizens. Xaltis, in his normal green cloak, walks into the Throne Room, hood up, and flanked on either side by his brothers and the Evans siblings. On either side of the aisle, a large crowd of citizens stands around, conversations sporadic yet abounding. Of course, the many guests are not as excited as the five in the aisle, but they hide this excitement for formality's sake.

As they get closer to the throne, Casper and Cassandra split off from the group, leaving words of encouragement with the nervous Knight.

"Now the welcome back's official, bro!" Casper remarks and claps his friend on the back.

"Don't forget our deal; I get to beat you up after this is all over." Cassandra gives him a smile and a ruffle of his hair.

"I said you could fight me. Never said I'd let you win." Xaltis pulls her in for a hug. "Thanks for listening, by the way."

Cassandra hugs him back. "What are friends for? Now get up there, X!"

The pair split up and Xaltis continues walking toward the throne with his brothers in tow.

"You worried, man?" Talis whispers as they get closer.

"About this? Nah, ceremonies don't faze me."

"Then why is your hand trembling?" Kalin asks, concerned.

Xaltis looks down at his right hand which is indeed trembling. "Oh. Is it? I didn't notice."

"Don't worry, man, it'll be cake. Besides, you've already done this before." Talis reassures him.

"Yeah, and don't forget, we're having lunch after this. So get through it already!"

"One of _your _lunches?" Xaltis' demeanor immediately changes. "I look forward to it." His eyes close and the trio stops, about two meters from the Queen. "Thanks, guys. I needed that boost."

"This is why we come in three, man."

"Two wasn't enough to balance us out."

The trio fist-bump as Talis and Kalin leave the procession, Xaltis the sole walker of the last few steps to the throne of the Queen.

"Well," Xaltis says to himself as he cracks his knuckles, "let's do this thing." Xaltis reaches the Queen, removes his hood and kneels before her. "Good morning, Your Majesty."

"Good morning, Xaltis, and good morning to all the citizens of our beautiful kingdom who came out to witness this auspicious event!"

The crowd, anxious for the morning's events and itching for action, breaks into thunderous applause.

"Right. Now, down to business. Xaltis Torrance Knight, once, a few years ago, you took an oath to protect this kingdom as a Knight of the Royal Guard of Hikari Lux Lucis. Somewhere along that path, you lost your way, but you have returned home and turned away from the darkness that once consumed you. Do you - "

"Actually, Your Highness, that's not entirely true. You see, I've learned something."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, ma'am, esteemed colleagues, friends, and fellow citizens, a few weeks ago, as you may know, we were caught in a war that threatened to erase the very fabric of our existence here. I almost lost my life in that war. I was in a coma for an entire week. In that time I learned much about the struggle between the light and the darkness."

Xaltis looks to the crowd. "I also learned about the common misconception that one can exist without the other. This is not true; in fact, they share a delicate balance, one that, if tampered with, can tip the scales and do much damage to the universe. Light and dark are two sides of the same coin, and as such, each and every individual is born with both light and dark in their hearts. It's how we use it, though, that determines our destiny, not how much is there."

Xaltis summons _Knight's Strength _and _Knight's Evolution_. "Having these taught me that. Each and every one of us has the potential for great things, regardless of the darkness in our hearts."

Xaltis turns to the Queen. "So to say that I've turned away from the darkness, Your Majesty, is erroneous. I've accepted that it's there and use it to my advantage. Simple as that." Xaltis releases his Keyblades as they return to the magical ether.

"You sound just like I did ten years ago, kid." A voice comes from the back of the crowd.

Queen Raina gets up from her throne and addresses the strange voice. "Who dares interrupt this ceremony?"

"No need to be hostile, Your Majesty. Let's just see who it is." Xaltis steps in front of the Queen, _Evolution _drawn and ready for battle.

"That's a smart kid you got there, Princess. Or should I say Queen? Sorry about your father, by the way." A silver-haired man dressed in a black muscle shirt, white and yellow zippered vest, and blue cargo pants comes out of the crowd.

"You speak quite personably, do I know you, stranger?" Raina's left eyebrow is raised.

"Considering that I've only been here once in my life, I'd be surprised if you remembered me or my associate, especially since we've only dealt with your father in the past. The name's Riku, just for future reference."

"And what business do you have here, Riku, was it?"

"We're here on business, to find out about your Keyblade Wielders. And we've obviously found one. Sora!"

A spiky-haired brunet with a black, gold, red, and white outfit jumps out from the rafters and lands flawlessly next to his companion, Keyblade drawn. "My entrance was supposed to be a surprise, man. No one's supposed to know I'm off-world, sheesh."

Queen Raina drops her scepter and stares at the _Kingdom Key_ in Sora's hand. "Sora? As in Keyblade Grand Master? Savior of the Worlds? Bester of Master Xehanort? That Sora?"

Sora smiles and his cerulean eyes flash. "The one and only. And I didn't do that all on my own, you know. Now, as Riku just stated, this is kinda important. Are there any other Keybladers on this world?"

Xaltis speaks up first. "As you can obviously see, I am one." He holds up _Knight's Evolution_ and summons _Knight's Strength _to his right hand to prove his point.

"And I am as well." Talis steps forward out of the crowd and summons _Knight's Penitence _to his right hand.

"I see no sense in hiding that I am as well." With a flourish, Queen Raina summons her own Keyblade, which looks like two intertwined chains, one golden and one white, coming together at the business end in a sharp wide point with a crown for the tooth. The hilt shaped like a standard Keyblade's hilt, and the keychain forms the shape of a crowned angel wing. The name _Angelic Crown_ rings through the minds of every Wielder in the room, including one unsuspecting person, who simply sees this as normal.

"By my count, that's three, Riku. I thought there were four." The brunet named Sora cups his chin as his brow furrows in worry.

"Is anyone else a Wielder in this room? Because I sense another, as I'm sure every other Wielder can." Riku begins walking through the crowded room, scoping each person out one by one.

The question lingered in everyone's minds. Is anyone else a Wielder in this room?

_**Remember the LoneStar, Xaltis!**_A voice shouts in Xaltis' mind reminding him of the final words during his Dive.

"What does that mean?"

_**Focus! The Star will guide you!**_

Xaltis looks around at the people before him, from the Queen to his brothers, and then to Sora and Riku. He eyes everyone's clothes, his gray pupils glossing over in concentration, passing each person in turn, focusing on something, anything – wait!

"What's that on your shorts, Sora?" Xaltis points at an insignia that looks eerily familiar.

"What, this?" Sora passes his hand over the Keyblade-crossed star. "It's the call sign of a universe-wide organization. Specifically, this here is the sign for the Keybladers in that organization. As a whole, though, we're known as the LoneStars."

"Did you say LoneStars?"

"Yes, yes I did. Why?"

"That star looks exactly like our own Royal Knights' Crest, Master Sora." Talis walks up, showing the Keyblade Masters the Crest of the Royal Knights tattooed on his right arm while Xaltis shows the one emblazoned on the back of his cloak.

"Sora, that's - "

"- the original sign of the LoneStar Organization. Tell me, when was this Crest of yours set in place?"

Kalin comes out of the crowd and speaks up. "Since we were kids. The Order used to have a different one, but it was changed about nine years ago, I think."

"That matches up perfectly! Only one question remains: who's the guardian of this world?"

"That would be me." Markos steps out of the crowd and everyone is shocked to see him, for he wasn't expected.

"You hide your scent well, Markos; I didn't even know you were here."

"Try again, Wielder of Dawn. I don't hide my scent." Markos smirks at Riku.

Riku sniffs the air. "Your scent has changed! When did you get a Keyblade?"

"A Keyblade isn't the only celestial weapon in this universe, Riku, you should know that." Markos puts his hand out in front of him and summons his Gunblade, which appears in a crackle of lightning.

"If that's so, Master, then does that explain why the name _Angelic Guardian_ rings through my head when you call that forth?" Xaltis turns to his master as he questions him.

"Ask the Ancients, my friend, for even I have no idea. As for your fourth Wielder, Keyblade Masters, I can tell you who that is. Kalin, come here."

"Me? But Master, how could - ?"

"Just come here, hold your questions for after the show."

Kalin walks over to his Master, question after question running through his head. "Now what?"

"Call to mind every happy feeling, every good thing that's happened to you and focus those feelings to your hand. Make sure to close your eyes so those events can first take form in your mind."

Kalin racks his brain, searching for his happiest moments. "Cooking for the sibs...training with Master...our races, those are fun...having Xaltis home after so long...just being with my family and friends, that makes me the happiest person alive, I think."

As Kalin's eyes are closed and his mind searches his memories, light pools around his fingertips and takes shape in the form of a bar.

"Take hold of it, Kalin, so that the images in your mind can take form!"

Kalin opens his eyes and grasps the bar of light which, to his surprise, is solid. The bar grows attachments and shapes into a full hilt, a keychain growing out of the back in the shape of a heart and the LoneStar/Royal Knight Crest overlapping each other. Kalin slides his hand along the hilt and the light continues to shape the blade, forming a shaft almost like the Kingdom Key. The tooth of the blade is the shape of a multicolored diamond, the colors converging at the point, making solid white. _Knight's Heart_ rings through the minds of the Wielders in the room as the light finally surrounds Kalin, then seemingly dissipates into his skin.

Kalin looks at his new Keyblade, then to his companions. "I'm...I'm a Keyblade Wielder?"

"Apparently..." Xaltis and Kalin stare at their brother in a combination of awe and pride.

"And what a show that was, eh?" Markos pats the shoulder of his former student.

"Now that we know who all four Wielders are, we have a lot to discuss." Sora begins walking to the door.

"Correct, so if you four could follow us - " Riku begins.

"Excuse me!" Cassandra walks over, a mix of emotions visible only through her sharp eyes. "Xaltis has been waiting for this moment ever since he got back, and you two," she pokes the Keyblade Masters in the chests, "interrupted it. So you'd better grab a seat, 'cuz no one's going anywhere until Xaltis gets his job back!"

Riku looks to his best friend, who strikes his favorite pose. The brunet says, "Well, no sense arguing with royalty. I could use a minute anyway." With that he plops right into a seat as the remainder of the crowd does the same.

The silveret blows a stray hair out of his face and sighs. "You lazy bum…fine, we'll wait."

Queen Raina regains her regal composure and continues the ceremony. "As we were saying, now that you have returned to us, you must take your oath of service again."

Xaltis kneels before her. "I'd be honored, Your Highness."

In a flash of white light, _Angelic Crown_ appears in the Queen's right hand. "Please repeat after me. I, Xaltis Torrance Knight, of the Kingdom of Hikari Lux Lucis…"

"I, Xaltis Torrance Knight, of the Kingdom of Hikari Lux Lucis…"

"…in order to protect the kingdom previously named and the crown and citizens thereof…"

"…in order to protect the kingdom previously named and the crown and citizens thereof…"

"…do solemnly swear to always uphold the position of Knight of the Royal Court…"

"…do solemnly swear to always uphold the position of Knight of the Royal Court…"

"…to enforce the laws set by those who came before…"

"…to enforce the laws set by those who came before…"

"…and to always remember the words engraved on our castle, every building, and in our hearts…"

"…and to always remember the words engraved on our castle, every building, and in our hearts…"

The entire crowd joins in as the Queen and Xaltis say the final four words: "_Salus in Lux Lucis!_"

The Queen taps both of Xaltis' shoulders with _Angelic Crown_ as she resoundingly intones, "As the 36th Ruler of this blessed kingdom, 3rd of the Regal Line of the House Hikari, I, Queen Raina Lyte, hereby _re_-grant you the honor of serving as a member of the Order of the Knights of the Royal Guard of Hikari Lux Lucis. Please rise, Xaltis, and serve your country with honor and dignity."

The audience erupts into thunderous applause, with some whistles from Casper and Talis. Xaltis rises and bows to the Queen. "Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm glad to have this honor again."

The Queen addresses the audience. "Again, thank you all for coming, my dear subjects. Refreshments will be served in the common rooms, catered by our own Madame Caswell." She turns to the side and says, "Thank you for this, Luna."

A thin white-haired woman with sharp blue eyes and a bright multicolored dress bashfully responds. "My Queen, it's always a pleasure for Caswell Catering to cook for you."

"And how is your husband, Luna?"

"He is well, Your Majesty; always off on some new adventure, of course. I hope he comes home soon."

"In your next letter to him, tell him I send my regards, and I look forward to hearing about his exploits next time I visit your shop."

"I'll make sure to tell him, Your Highness. Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure everyone doesn't tear apart my setup! _Au revoir, ma Reine!_" Luna Caswell disappears almost as quickly as she appeared.

With that, the Queen walks over to the Royal Guard and the Keyblade Masters, who are deep in conversation. "So, gentlemen, shall we take this conversation elsewhere?"

Sora turns to Queen Raina. "Where would you suggest, Your Majesty?"

Markos speaks up. "Would having the conversation in the garage be terrible, guys?"

Talis looks at his master. "Well, I haven't cleaned up in a bit, so it's kinda messy..."

Xaltis claps him on the back to shut him up. "What he means is, that's a great idea! Let's go!"

The Keyblade Wielders, followed by Markos and the Evans siblings, maneuver through the crowd of people heading out of the Throne Room. Once in the hallway, the group of warriors split off from the main crowd and the Queen stops them mid-hallway.

"I'm going to my quarters to change out of this gown, gentlemen. I'll meet you in the garage, alright?"

"Fine with us, Your Majesty." Sora responds.

"Wouldn't want you uncomfortable while we explain our reasons for being here." Riku adds.

"Perfect. Cassandra, would you accompany me?" She starts to walk down a side hallway.

"Of course, Your Highness!" Cassandra falls into step beside the Queen as they walk to her quarters.

"I guess that leaves the rest of us to go to the garage, eh?" Markos comments. "Let's go quickly then."

The remaining men continue their trek through the palace as they go to discuss matters of great importance.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_LoneStar: "Another end to another good chapter, I hope."_

_Talis: "Took long enough, LoneStar. I think everyone was getting worried."_

_Xaltis: "You really do take a lot on, LoneStar."_

_LoneStar: "Doesn't mean I can't make time for you guys, does it? Your story deserves to be told."_

_Kalin: "Of course, but not at your own expense."_

_LoneStar: "Guys, I enjoy this storytelling; don't ever forget that. And besides, now you guys finally met Sora!"_

_Talis: "This is true...wonder what he'd be like in a fight."_

_Kalin: "We should definitely spar with him next chapter."_

_Xaltis: "Think you could set that up, LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "I don't know, maybe. What do you think, my loyal readers and reviewers? Shall we have a battle between Keyblade Master and new Keyblade Wielders? Or shall we get straight to the important talks? I'd love to know you guys' ideas for next chapter. Thanks for being patient in waiting for this one as well. Salus in Lux Lucis!"_


	11. Central Rising

_LoneStar: "This chapter has been brought to you by LoneStar Enterprises and Knight Productions, with a special 'Thank You' to the Foo Fighters for their inspiration for the fight scene to come."  
_

_**applause from the Knight triplets**_

_LoneStar: "Now! Right to business. Stalling never does any good for a story. Disclaimer, please!"_

_Talis: "Chairman LoneStar owns neither Square Enix nor The Walt Disney Company."_

_Kalin: "Neither does he own the characters of Kingdom Hearts or the Disney characters affiliated with the game."_

_Xaltis: "He also does not own the following quote."_

_"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him."_

_Aldous Huxley_

**Chapter XI: Central Rising**

The seven men walk out of the castle's front portal and descend the stairs, the Knight triplets in front, Sora and Riku in the middle, and Markos and Casper bringing up the rear.

"So, Keyblade Masters, how is it that you've come to our world so suddenly? It's rare that we get such prestigious visitors." Markos looks intrigued as he asks.

Sora speaks up first. "Fair question, but I think we should wait until the Queen meets up with us before we answer that, especially since that reason now involves her, don't you think?"

"Of course, of course, but off the record, how are you boys? I haven't seen you in at least five years. You especially, Sora, have grown so much!"

Riku speaks up. "It's been tough going as usual, Markos. After the whole crap with Xehanort, I – well, we – all thought it was over, you know?"

Sora adds, "How mistaken we obviously were, but it was nice to have a break while it lasted. Catch up with things. Try to lead a normal life."

"But as we've learned, and I'm sure you all have as well already, life with one of these," he summons _Way to the Dawn_, "is never normal."

"Don't we know it?" Talis exclaims. "We haven't had them long at all and we've already fought Heartless!"

The Knight trio visibly shivers as they remember their battle in the Shadow Desert.

"You all have fought Heartless before?" Sora asks with slight worry on his face.

"Yes, and on multiple occasions recently. Why do you ask?" Kalin responds.

"Then things are accelerating faster than we or Mickey realized, huh, Sora?" Riku prods his best friend.

Casper, who's been listening patiently through the exchange, finally decides to let his voice be heard. "Hold on, hold on, hold on. I don't entirely understand this whole thing."

By this time, the talking men reach the garage and Kalin fiddles with the keys as Casper continues.

"You two," pointing to Sora and Riku, "are Masters of a super-powerful weapon known as the Keyblade, right?"

The pair nod and Riku adds, pointing to Sora. "This guy's the _Grand _Master, by the way."

"Riku! No flaunting my titles, geez! You know how much I hate that!" Sora reacts with a mock frown.

Casper motions as he continues. "My friends here," pointing to the Knight triplets, "now also are Wielders of this same super-powerful weapon, chosen by some unknown force to join the battle against the powers of darkness, right?"

Markos fields that one. "You're missing a bit, but that's the basic premise, yes."

Casper continues. "And if I read your response to Kalin's answer correctly, no one expected that Heartless would be here or that we would have had to fight them so soon."

Riku answers. "That's the gist of it."

Casper concludes. "So, putting this all together, I'm assuming something big's going down and faster than expected. Otherwise you guys wouldn't be here or be so surprised at the Heartless activity, am I correct in all my assumptions?"

Sora responds. "Pretty much, yeah."

Talis leads the group to the sitting room, where they all get chairs and continue the conversation.

At that same moment, the Queen, in her quarters, goes through her closet while Cassandra sits on her bed.

"Your Majesty, why do you think Master Sora and Master Riku are here? It's awfully weird, don't you think?"

Raina steps out of her closet, wearing her signature (S/N: literally, her signature is on the leg) white pants, white boots and white tank top. "I honestly have no idea, Cassi, but it's definitely high on the weird scale." She walks over to her vanity and picks up a necklace with a turqoise gem on the end, clasping it around her neck. She turns around and asks, "How's this?"

"Beautiful as usual, Your Highness." Cassandra gives the Queen a thumbs-up.

"Thanks. As I was saying," she walks over to an armchair and picks up the matching white jacket, "this is especially weird because King Mickey recently reported them missing in action."

"Are they hiding from him? Or are they hiding _something_ from him?" Cassandra gets up and picks up her own jacket.

"Quite likely. I surmise that we'll find the truth of this matter soon enough. Let's not keep the boys waiting any longer then, eh, Cassi?" Raina takes a pair of crown-shaped earrings out of her jacket pocket and puts them on.

"I think that would be best."

"Let's away then, shall we?" The two ladies walk to the chamber doors, but before Cassandra can push it open, the left door flies open and the Knight twin sisters walk in, smiles on their faces.

"Hi, Lady Rai!" Carla exclaims.

"How's it goin', Queenie?" Shania asks.

"Oh. Hey there, Knight sisters. Nice job just barging into my room!" Raina tries hard not to smile as she pretends to be angry with the girls.

"So why aren't you at the party downstairs? It's lots of fun and so many people are asking for you." Carla surveys her friend, admiring her outfit and commenting after, "Are you going to meet someone?"

"Yes, actually. Would you two like to come along?"

Cassandra starts, "Your Majesty, are you sure - "

Shania cuts her off. "Is that even a question? Of course!"

"Come along then. I'm late as it is." The four ladies exit the room, Raina making sure to lock the doors behind her, and they head for the main entrance.

Back at the garage, the men are becoming restless waiting for the women to arrive. The Keyblade Masters are especially antsy because of what they need to tell the group.

Casper speaks up. "Guys, I've got an idea to keep us busy while we wait."

A couple of heads slowly raise in interest.

"What say we have a Battle Royale, see how strong each person here is?"

Xaltis' head pops up at this suggestion. "OR even team up, and see how we work in tandem?"

Casper is excited. "Thanks, X, that's actually even better! So what do you guys think? You up for it?"

Riku brushes away his silver bangs. "Sure you guys can handle taking on two Keyblade Masters?"

Markos laughs heartily. "Don't underestimate my students, Riku; they're far stronger than they look."

"We'll see, Markos!" Sora takes his trademark pose, hands behind his head and smile on his face. "Bring it on!"

The seasoned knight trainer gets up and gestures to the door. "I imagine we must find a larger venue, yes?"

Everyone gets up to follow as Talis leaves a note on the door for the ladies. "'In case we haven't returned in time to meet you, we are at the Practice Arena, doing a little sparring. You can meet us there if you'd like or send a signal to let us know to return. - Talis C. X. Knight, KRC SC.' That should be enough, right?"

Xaltis claps his hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's good enough. Let's go!"

Xaltis runs through the door, followed by Casper, as rings no one noticed before shine on their fingers. They each take their rings off, toss them in the air, and the light from the rings shine over them. They do backflips and come down on hoverboards, riding Southwest toward the Arenas.

"Come on, guys!" Casper yells as the pair wordlessly cast Aero to propel them faster.

Talis smiles and runs after his brother and friend, his own ring shining as _Kaiso_ appears in his hand. Out of the garage behind them, Talis' motorbike, Reminiscence, roars to life and rides out to him, and Talis jumps on top of it, placing the sword in the back compartment. "To the Arenas!"

Kalin, not one to be upstaged, lets his own ring glow with power as he calls upon his mage powers to create a path of ice, upon which he glides. "See you guys there!" He sends a two-fingered salute back to his compatriots as he glides away.

The Keyblade Masters stand in awe of the small displays of power they just witnessed and Markos looks on in pride before addressing them. "Well, can't leave them waiting for too long, now can I? You remember how to get there, right?"

Sora snaps out of the reverie first. "Sure, and Kalin's Blizzara path should keep us on track if we lose our way."

"Good, I'll see you two there then." With a wave and a pop (S/N: for all you Potterheads, not Apparition :P), Markos disappears, leaving two (yet again) shocked Keyblade Masters.

Sora summons the _Kingdom Key_. "Can't be left behind, can we?"

Riku summons _Way to the Dawn_. "Of course not. What kind of Keyblade Masters would we be then, huh?"

"Alright then!" They toss their Keyblades in the air and they come back down as Keyblade Gliders, which Sora and Riku mount and ride, following the ice path left by Kalin.

Markos arrives at the Arena first, choosing the Central Stadium, the largest one, as their venue. His pop-out lands in near the center of the building, which he surveys while musing to himself.

"Almost suitable..." He walks to the center.

"But it needs a little..." Gray lines appear beneath him, twisting and curving over each other, forming a shape almost like two superimposed lowercase "e"'s. He whispers the last word, "flair."

The glyph beneath him turns purple and Markos weaves his hands in intricate motions, directing the ground around him to move as he does. Platforms rise, cliffs form, fissures crack as Markos constructs his masterpiece. His arms rise and fall and the arena floor does the same, he spreads his arms out wide and stalagmites grow out from the earth. Spinning in a wide arc, grass grows on every patch of land that's still earth-level. The last move, he raises his arms high above his head as if punching the sky. Four pillars jut out from the ground just outside the glyph's radius, reaching extreme heights. "That should do it."

Markos steps off of the glyph, admiring his handiwork, then summons his Gunblade, making a small flare to direct his charges. "They'll enjoy this." Markos smiles to himself as he walks to the stairs leading to the Announcer's Box.

Suddenly, the ground rumbles beneath him and a loud crash is heard. "What was that?" He whips around.

A ring of black smoke covers the glyph that he just stepped off of and many pairs of black antennae rise from the wisps.

"Oh great. And I thought I'd get a break today." He re-summons _Angelic Guardian _ and braces himself for battle.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

"Did you see that flare, Kal?" Talis asks his brother, as Kalin had just caught up to him, Xaltis, and Casper.

"Yeah, I saw it. Figures Master Markos would choose Central for this one. He makes everything a test."

Xaltis flies overhead and calls down to them. "But where are Sora and Riku? We very well can't fight without them there to fight against!"

Casper rides up alongside the trio. "I just passed them; they're not far behind. But those Gliders they're using...I can't wait to see what yours look like when you guys learn how to do that!"

The guys adjust their travel direction to go towards Central Stadium as Casper continues. "Gliders from Keyblades – just incredible."

"Keyblade Gliders? Seriously?" Xaltis comes down to be level with them.

"We can do that?" Talis asks.

Casper looks at each of them. "Apparently. Those Keyblades of yours are powerful weapons."

Just then, the earth rumbles beneath them, almost shaking Talis and Kalin off of their paths.

Kalin rights himself on the ice as they all stop. "What was that?"

Sora and Riku finally catch up to the quartet and Riku calls out to them. "Did you guys feel that shaking, too?"

All four men nod and look to their destination. Sora speaks up. "You don't think..."

As if to answer their question, a blast comes from the Stadium, and a few black spots appear in front of them, from which Shadows emerge, antennae twitching and yellow eyes burning.

Kalin, still sliding on his ice path, fires Blizzard spells at a couple of the bug-eyed Heartless before they can sink into the ground. "Ha!" He fist-pumps once and circles around before getting knocked off of his ice path in dodging a swipe from one that sneaks up on him.

Kalin curses under his breath as he falls to the ground, kicking up dust around him.

Riku yells, "I'll take care of this!" His eyes close and he performs a backflip, black smoke surrounding him and transforming his clothes. His blue cargo pants become black with purple trimming while his vest grows sleeves and becomes navy blue. His blindfold returns, covering his blue-green eyes and he grasps _Way to the Dawn _in his usual fighting stance.

"Dark...Aura!" Riku's form rushes between the few remaining Heartless, their bodies dissipating in wisps of black smoke as he slices them with his Keyblade. As he lands, columns of dark fire erupt from the ground, blasting away the dark creatures. Talis speaks up. "I think we'd better get there quickly and see what's up. May be a false alarm, but it never hurts to be safe, right?"

The guys nod to each other once again before they all take off as one, continuing to their destination.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_LoneStar: "My apologies in advance for such a short chapter. My initial intention was to have the fight here in this chapter, but I changed my mind at the last minute. Needs more planning, you see."_

_Casper: "Come on, man! This is my first fight in this story! How could you stop it so easy?"_

_Sora: "It's not his fault, Casper. Besides, there's no doing a fight like this justice if it's done haphazardly, right?"_

_LoneStar: "Right! Thank you, Sora."_

_Talis: "Besides, that means we get to kick some serious butt next chapter!"_

_Xaltis: "I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to see how Sora and Riku fight."_

_LoneStar: "No spoilers, though, guys. You'll just have to wait like the readers do. Speaking of you guys, thanks for reading yet another chapter of Meeting the Master. See you next chapter! Salus in Lux Lucis!"_


	12. Send in Your Heartless

_LoneStar: "Oh snap! Here it is! The fight scene!"_

_Talis: "Really? No more cliffies beforehand?"_

_LoneStar: "This is for real, no more waiting for it."_

_Xaltis: "Sweet! Butt-kickin' time!"_

_Kalin: "You're always itchin' for a fight, X."_

_Xaltis: "And? Is there something wrong with wanting to kick bad-guy butt?"_

_LoneStar: "Guys, guys! Save it for the fight scene, would you?"_

_Talis: "Same as always, Chairman LoneStar doesn't own Square Enix Ltd. or the Walt Disney Company."_

_Kalin: "Neither does he own Kingdom Hearts or any of the Disney characters associated with the game series."_

_LoneStar: "And I definitely don't own today's quote by Robert Green Ingersoll, but I will share it with you all."_

"_In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences."_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

**Chapter XII: Send in Your Heartless**

Markos spins like a top, slicing through Shadows like butter. "Where are they coming from? Why here? Why now?"

He runs up one of the pillars, taking out Shadows, some Wizards, and the occasional Sky Knight on the way. When he reaches the top he pushes off of the ledge, launching himself over the Stadium floor. High above, he surveys just how many Heartless have risen from the depths. Hundreds, no, thousands of Heartless flood the Stadium and the number just continues to increase as more of them crawl from the dark hole.

As he rights himself on top of one of the other pillars, he calls forth three more from the ground, just to avoid having too much open ground. However, without the power augmentation of the glyph, this takes more out of him than it normally would. Markos frowns and huffs in annoyance and slight exhaustion. "Shoot. Can't do that again."

He turns around in order to get a look at the entrance. "Good, still free of Heartless!" As long as I can defend the entrance, none can get to the palace or town."

Several Sky Knights and Wizards fly up to meet him, almost as an advance scouting group would, gauging their enemy's power. Markos glares at the swarm. "But first I have to find a way off of this pillar without killing myself."

He points his weapon at the lead Sky Knight, switching it to Gun Mode. "Take this!" He spins the barrel, locks on, and fires a shot of Thunder magic at it. The helmeted Heartless dodges the shot and flies closer to the man, slashing back with its shortsword.

With nowhere to go, Markos takes the hit to his chest, ripping a hole in his shirt and drawing a bit of blood. Markos sucks his teeth in annoyance. "And I just got this shirt too!" He sets off a rapid-fire barrage of magical shots. Fira, Blizzara, Aerora, Thundara, concentrated into magic bullets that eliminate a few of the Sky Knights around him. The smoke obscures the immediate area and Markos lets out a short "Ha!" in premature celebration, firing off a couple more shots into the smoke as a small precaution.

However, the clearing smoke reveals that the Wizard Heartless still stand – well, float. "Immune to magic, huh? Guess I'll have to take care of you later." As the rest of the smoke clears, some of the Sky Knights appear to have dodged his barrage of magic bullets.

"Tch, stupid Heartless, there are always too many of you around." Markos re-converts his Gunblade to Sword Mode and dives off the pillar, concentrating more Thunder magic around his blade.

The Heartless directly below him scatter, Shadows melting into the ground and Soldiers zigzagging away, almost as if sensing the danger that is fast approaching. However, that matters little to Markos as he yells, "Thunder Raid, Alpha Strike!" and slams his Gunblade into the ground, making a few small storms around him. The Heartless in the near vicinity are shocked into oblivion as pink hearts float into the sky. The Thunder magic works its way through the Heartless crowd, shocking random sets of the dark creatures and forcing them to fade.

The Shadows that remain resurface and swarm Markos, swiping their small claws at him. The Wizards that he left behind at the pillar's apex fly down, waving their wands and sending magical spheres at him, spheres he barely has time to evade while he narrowly escapes the claws of the Shadows

"Thunder Raid, Beta Shockwave!" Markos imbues his weapon with even more Thunder magic and flies through the crowds of Sky Knight/Soldier battalions, slicing and dicing them and leaving residual shockwaves for the ones he missed. He lands in a clear patch near the entrance to catch his breath and eyes the crowd again., his face falling when he sees the numbers pretty much constant. "There's gotta be a faster way to do this."

Just outside the Stadium, the Knights, the Keyblade Masters, and Casper charge their magic as they speed towards the entrance portal.

Talis yells to them all, "Alright, we go in and whatever it is, we hit hard and fast, got it? You know this is gonna be some crazy stuff in there, so we gotta be prepared!"

Sora adds, "And remember, leave no Heartless standing!"

Shock covers everyone else's face and they all yell, "Heartless?"

Riku responds, "Yeah, you guys didn't sense them? They smell terrible!"

Talis yells again, "Perfect! Then we go in twice as hard as we planned and knock down everything in sight except Master Markos, got it, guys?"

They all nod as they get closer to the Stadium, converging on the entrance in pairs.

Inside, Markos is still slashing away at Heartless, getting more and more tired as he does. "Where are you guys? Seriously!"

"AEROJA!" The 4th-level Aero spell powers into Central Stadium, pushing the Heartless far from Markos' spot in front of the entrance, taking out quite a few of them as well. The spell is followed closely by Xaltis and Sora, _Kingdom Key _and _Knight's Strength_ still pointed in the direction the spell was cast.

Xaltis runs to where Markos is crouched, concern evident in his expression. "Master, are you alright?"

Markos stands upright, his breathing slightly heavy. "Oh, I'm quite alright. Just a bit winded. Nothing an old soldier like me can't handle. Still glad you showed up, though."

"BLIZZAGA!" Kalin and Casper glide in, firing monumental chunks of Ice at the throng of Heartless threatening to return to their assault. Freezing some in place and impaling others, the Ice Wielders take no prisoners. Both pairs of hands work in succession, blasting Heartless after Heartless with ice.

Xaltis comments, "Looks like we showed up just in time, too. The only ones missing now are -"

"FIRAGA!" Talis and Riku come flying in, their fingertips flaming as they send huge red and blue fireballs throughout the Stadium, incinerating dozens of Shadows. Talis ditches his bike as Riku deactivates his Keyblade Glider, both landing side by side, Keyblades drawn and blazing.

"Spoke too soon, Xaltis? Looks like the gang's all here." Markos jests.

"Indeed we are. Hey guys!" Xaltis calls out to the other men. "What say we get this party started?"

The seven men survey the endless crowd of Heartless, determination in their eyes.

"I'll take everyone's silence as an affirmative then." Xaltis jumps into the air and yells, "_Kuriamaindo!"_ His body shines brightly as his cloak changes color from green to white and gold. As he touches down, his cloak billows around him, almost weightless, and his off-hand glows as _Knight's Evolution _appears in it. "Let's get 'em!" Xaltis charges, swinging his Keyblades in a flurry of motions to slice through his enemies.

"A change of pace is the Key to success here," Sora remarks as he takes out a Keychain with the LoneStar symbol on it, switching it for the Mickey-head Keychain on the Kingdom Key. The Keyblade is engulfed in sparks as Sora whispers, "Roxas. Give me strength." A specter of his Nobody materializes and grasps the Keyblade and they raise it to the sky together. As the light fades, the new Keyblade is revealed. The hilt is the shape of black thorns, converging at the Keychain and at a Nobody symbol. Spikes cover the top of the symbol and the blade extends from there, curving as a scimitar would. The blade itself is compound; patterned almost like a serration, the blade has smaller blades in retrograde to the large one. The end of the blade cuts back on itself in a curve and then crosses the main blade. That piece then curves over and four diamonds jut out from it in black and white. _Two Become One_ rings through eveyone's minds as Roxas smiles and disappears, leaving these words: "Be strong, Sora." Sora then yells, "Light!" and goes into his own Drive Form. His normal multi-colored outfit becomes silver and black, with intricate black and white patterns appearing on the hemlines of his shorts. In his off-hand, _Oblivion_, a Keyblade with dark tones. The Keychain is a black palette swap of Sora's own crown charm necklace. Two bat wings shape the hilt along with a bar that ends with a purple diamond. The blade is in the shape of a chain, ending at a point and the tooth of the Keyblade the shape of the kanji for darkness. (A/N 1) Black smoke and violet sparks surround the blade as Sora swings it and charges behind Xaltis.

Riku, not one to be left behind by his best friend, waves his hand over _Way to the Dawn_, charging it with red and blue flame. "Powers of darkness, powers of light, combine in me to win this fight." As Riku speaks, the red and blue flames coil around each other, creating a small spiral around the Keyblade. "Time to take this to the next level!" The red and blue spiraling flames engulf each other; however, unlike in the color wheel, red and blue does not make purple, but orange. The newly-made orange flame starts spinning around _Way to the Dawn_, making a wheel of fire. Ready for battle, Riku charges forward to meet another crowd of Heartless.

Talis looks at Kalin. "So, another Heartless battle, it seems."

Kalin tosses a glance at him. "Yup, so it appears."

Talis then looks out onto the field. "There's no way we're coming away from this unharmed."

Kalin looks ahead as well. "Nope." A pause. "Let's do it." He summons _Knight's Heart_ to his waiting left hand.

Talis laughs heartily as he summons _Knight's Penitence_ and,to his surprise, a second Keyblade. However, it looks incredibly familiar to him. The hilt is cross-hatched like a chessboard and a thin section connects it to the blade. The Blade itself is wide and has three black triangles on it of increasing size along the edge going to about halfway down the length of it. Past this, diagonal strips of black line the remainder of the blade to the end and the tooth of the Keyblade is composed of the kanji for "reminiscence" superimposed on each other. _Kaiso_, then _Knight's Memories _flashes through his mind and this causes him to laugh even more. "Another Keyblade? Well then, it's Heartless-kickin' time, Kal!" He crosses his weapons and charges headlong into battle, Kalin following close behind.

Casper looks to Markos. "You alright, Master?"

Markos leans on his Gunblade, responding, "Yeah, just need to replenish my energy."

Casper reaches into his pocket, pulling out a golden spiky globe. "Catch!" Casper tosses the object at Markos, who deftly catches and cracks it open, releasing golden fluid into his waiting mouth.

Markos salutes him in gratitude. "Good thing you have those handy; that Elixir really hit the spot!" He pulls his Gunblade out of the ground, with finesse only he could muster after just being so weak, and points it at the Heartless. "Shall we get rid of these invaders, Mr. Evans?"

Casper smiles at his master before summoning a bow and quiver from the ether. "I thought you'd never ask!" In one fluid motion, Casper pulls out an arrow, charges it with Gravity magic, sets it, and lets it fly high above a crowd of unsuspecting Heartless. Its kinetic energy, along with the combination of the world's gravity and the Gravity magic in its tip, bring the arrow plummeting to the ground. Upon contact, the arrowhead splits and releases a globe of Gravity energy, bringing down all the Sky Knights in the vicinity and shackling them to the ground. Casper then pulls out three more arrows out of his quiver, each tipped with a different color arrow. Red, blue, brown, he lets all three fly as he yells, "Gravity Shot, Triple Element!"

As Casper fires his shot, Markos charges his own Gunblade as he reconfigures it to Gun Mode once again. "Fire Shot!" A large fireball is expelled from his Gunblade and rockets towards the Heartless. "Aero Shot!" A gust of wind follows close behind, pushing the fireball along, blasting through Shadows. "Blizzard Shot!" A large ice crystal follows.

Markos then returns his weapon to Sword Mode and jams it into the ground. "As the fires of Earth consume you, return to the darkness from whence you came!" His body channels red-hot energy through his Gunblade into the ground beneath him. Small eruptions occur in the midst of the Heartless closest to him, and it seems to be just as effective as a Keyblade; the ranks of the Sky Knights that Casper brought down diminish even further. "Eruption Burst!" The small volcanoes shoot tons of lava into the air and it comes down on the Heartless, melting them down to floating pink hearts and black smoke.

At the same time, on the other side of the Arena, Sora and Riku battle hundreds of bulbous Shadows and lithe Neoshadows. Where Sora's Keyblades let up, Riku's is right there to pick up the slack. The sky above the pair darkens as more and more Heartless are felled by their righteous fury and Sora then releases _Oblivion_ to the ether.

Sora and Riku lock eyes for the briefest of moments and they both nod. Sora yells,"Riku!" and Riku replies, "Out of my way!" Sora and Riku then alternate slashing at Heartless for a solid 30 seconds; as Sora reclines, Riku slashes, and vice versa. Sora then ends that stage of the attack with a spinning slash before Riku says, "Is that all you got?" and speedily stabs at some Shadows, followed by some stabs from Sora, who then backs away to let Riku shoot Dark Fira balls at them. They alternate this attack three times, before Riku then says, "I'll take 'em."

Sora replies, "OK," and the pair float back-to-back and cut two wide arcs through the crowd in front of them. Sora grunts as he summons six extra copies of his Keyblade and Riku summons five to cut through the Heartless as a wheel. They alternate these attacks twice as well.

"Light!" "You're gonna lose it all!" Sora and Riku toss their Keyblades in the air and they freeze there, self-casting Magnega on the Heartless in the vicinity and blasting the unlucky dark creatures with light and dark. The barrage continues almost endlessly until the blasts coalesce, blinding the immediate area.

"Riku!" "Time's up!" The Keyblade Masters bump fists as their Keyblades return to their hands and the couple of Heartless that survived the barrage fade. (A/N 2)

"That showed 'em," Riku says.

"It's been a while since we used that one, eh, Riku?" Sora's cerulean eyes flash with mirth.

"True, true." Riku's teal eyes shine as well. "Job's not done yet, though." He points to the center of the Stadium.

Sora looks in the direction Riku is pointing. "I know I say this a lot, but whoa!" (A/N 3)

"Things just got a bit more serious around here." Riku and Sora then take off for the center of the Stadium.

In the meantime, the Knight triplets have some fun of their own at the Heartless' expense. With the crowds beginning to thin out, the guys get renewed vigor.

Kalin calls out, "Wanna try our triple attack?"

Talis and Xaltis cringe as they recall the last time they attempted to perform that, Xaltis remembering the scars that came with it.

They contiue hacking away at the Heartless as Talis replies, "It's up to you, X. You're the one that was most hurt the last time we tried that."

Xaltis' gray eyes steel as he grits his teeth in determination. "Let's do it. Right now."

Kalin and Talis steel their eyes as well. "Are you sure?" Kalin asks.

_Knight's Strength _glows gray in Xaltis' right hand as he points to his face with his left. "Does this face look unsure to you?"

Talis holds a glowing-red _Knight's Memories_. "Well then, let's do it!" He spins his Keyblade in the air and flames erupt from it like a vortex. "It's all yours, X!"

Xaltis aims his Keyblade towards the crowd of Heartless before them and lets loose a powerful "Aerora!", unleashing a whirlwind that touches on the ground and tears through the Heartless hordes. Talis re-aims his fiery vortex toward Xaltis' tornado and the flames combine with the wind, making a firestorm. "Kalin, it's up to you, bro!"

The tooth of _Knight's Heart_ glows as it cycles through the rainbow imprinted on it. Kalin concentrates an the cycle stops on the blue section, which glows before enveloping the entire diamond with dark blue. Kalin's eyes remain focused as her aims his Keyblade at the firestorm, silently praying against a repeat episode of the last attempt at this feat. "Element of Surprise!" Kalin shoots a large ice crystal at the fiery vortex and, as it passes through, the cube is split into arrows that stab through the Heartless around them.

"Yeah! You did it, Kalin!" Xaltis yells while he keeps the vortex moving. "Keep firing!"

Kalin smiles and replies, "You got it!" He gets off two more shots through the storm before he starts getting more confidence. "Let's see if I can add a bit to this. Hover!" He hops into the air and remains here, floating a few feet above the ground. "Nice!" He ponders things for a bit. "Maybe...Glide!" He wills himself to fly around for a bit in a circle before calling to his brothers. "Follow my lead, guys, and stay close!" He flies over to another crowd of Heartless, Talis and Xaltis moving the firestorm behind him. As they whip the vortex to his forefront, Kalin fires a soft, steady stream of Blizzard magic through it, which divides into numerous arrows that pierce those Heartless as well.

Xaltis then calls out, "Talis, Fire Whip!"

Talis reacts immediately. "On it!" Talis releases his Keyblade and stretches his arms out wide. The fire that he was focusing into the vortex lashes out at some of the Heartless that remain, slicing through Shadows, cleaving Soldiers in two, obliterating Sky Knights. "Hell yeah!" Talis pumps his fist. "It's all yours, X!"

Xaltis reaches into his mind, calling out to his Keyblade. "You ready for this, Magnus? I haven't done this with you before, so I don't know how it'll end up."

The spirit of _Knight's Strength_ speaks back to him. _I trust you, young Knight. Now trust yourself and let's punish these suckers._

Xaltis smirks. "I like your style, Magnus. _**Effing-**_" He stops short as his mind tells him to say something else. "_**Volo maxima!**_" (A/N 4) He disappears like a blur as he runs towards his Aerora tornado. At the base an opening appears, almost like a door, and he runs through it, getting sucked up into the vortex.

Talis and Kalin gasp as their brother disappears, but before they can blink, the tornado dissipates and Xaltis hovers where it once stood, his irises as gray as the wind he once controlled. Moving like a speed demon, Xaltis flies through – yes, I said through – the stragglers, cutting them down with speed and precision. The Sky Knights, being the only Heartless left to bear Xaltis' attack swing their lances, but can't even touch him as he slashes through with _Knight's Strength_. Up, down, left, right, diagonals, his hand and Keyblade blur even more than his body does as, to his brothers, a blur is all Xaltis is at this point. As fast as the onslaught began, it ends, and Xaltis slashes through the final Heartless, his head down and Keyblade in the air on a slant as the last pink heart floats into the air. He lifts his head up slowly and as the gray leaves his eyes, he murmurs, "Crime definitely doesn't pay." (A/N 5)

Talis and Kalin look at their brother in awe as he cancels his Drive and walks toward them.

"That was awesome!"

"Incredible, man!"

They clap as he reaches them, and Xaltis gives a slight bow. "Thanks, guys, thanks. But seriously, that was all Magnus here." He holds out his Keyblade. "I definitely didn't have any of that in me on my own."

Kalin holds out his own Keyblade. "Looks like these are more than just weapons, huh, guys?"

Talis holds his own out as well. "I know what you mean. We just got these things, but we fight like we've had them all along."

Xaltis adds, "It's an incredible experience, that's for sure."

A rumbling in the earth beneath them causes them to cut their conversation short. One by one, the triplets turn to face the source of the disturbance and Kalin reacts first. "Holy s- "

"Kalin!"

"What? I was gonna say, holy skeleton!"

The Knights start running to the center of the Stadium, spotting Sora and Riku headed in the same direction, just a bit ahead of them.

"Looks like the Key Masters noticed it, too."

"As did Master Markos and Casper, it seems." Kalin points to the men in question headed inwards from yet another angle.

"You know," Xaltis comments as they continue running, "I never thought about how massive this place was until today."

"Leave it to X to crack jokes during a fight," Talis remarks in mock exasperation.

"Oh hush up and let's check out why there's a giant skeleton climbing out of the ground!"

All seven men reach the seven earthen columns surrounding the central glyph at about the same time, just in time to witness a horrifying sight. Rising from the depths of the swirling black portal, a skeletal soldier, with hands easily as large as one of the men facing it and dark armour that appears like it could stand up to anything. As it stands up to full height, towering high above the stadium, shadows from the portal beneath the creature crawl up its legs, swallowing its exterior, molding to the bone and creating "skin". Out of one of its arms, a shield grows, sporting the broken-heart emblem of the Heartless. Underneath the giant Heartless' helmet, two piercing yellow eyes stare down at the warriors before it as if challenging them to attack.

A collective gulp is the only sound heard other than the wind as the men are shocked to near-silence.

"I've never seen anything like this," Sora comments, his two hands firmly grasping _Two Become One_. "It's like something out of a horror film."

Markos speaks up, "I've read about these. This one, at least before it became a Heartless, is called a Pantras, but I've never seen it as a Heartless. They're supposed to be extremely rare though; the exact requirements for one to be present are so precise and complex that for one to be here – damn! Damn! Damn! Just our luck..."

Talis finally gets over his initial shock. "What is it, Master?"

Markos starts pacing as he replies, "I hadn't considered the possibility that this was a Summoning! I should've known by the number of Wizard Heartless there were...tell me – did any of you see a pattern in the way the Heartless moved? Anything at all?"

Everyone shrugs as they paid no attention to patterns or formations. However Riku offers, "OK. I get the idea that this was a Summoning, sort of. I guess it makes sense given the, um, circumstances." He points to the Heartless Pantras. "Two questions immediately spring to mind, though."

"Who Summoned this thing?" Xaltis asks.

"And why?" Kalin follows up.

A voice calls down to them, "I could tell you, but that's just not how I work."

All seven men look around, trying to find the source of the voice. The disembodied voice whistles then calls, "Up here, boys!"

They look up, to the top of one of Markos' pillars, as a dark portal opens. Sora and Riku flinch and Sora reacts, "Corridor of Darkness means..."

"...the Organization," Riku completes.

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

A/N 1: 闇

A/N 2: Recognize the Limit? Please tell me you do! :P

A/N 3: He really does say "Whoa..." a lot, especially in KH2, lol.

A/N 4: Latin for "maximum speed"

A/N 5: New Limit, _Crime and Punishment – Speed Mode_

_~~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~~_

_LoneStar: "Dun dun dun! The Organization? Returned? OH SNAP!"_

_Talis: "What happened to 'no more cliffhangers', LoneStar?"_

_Kalin: "Yeah! You lied!"_

_LoneStar: "I gave you guys a fight scene, didn't I? You'll just have to wait a little longer for the next one, that's all."_

_Xaltis: "And while we wait, what can we do?"_

_LoneStar: "Read a book, do your jobs, maybe?"_

_Talis: "Or we could kick your butt, there's that, too."_

_LoneStar: **summons Knight's Memories** "Yeah, that's right, I can summon your Keyblade. Now what was that about kicking my butt?" **eyes flash yellow**_

_Kalin: "He's all yours, LoneStar."_

_Talis: "Way to throw me under the bus, Kal!"_

_Kalin: "You threatened him. Your own fault."_

_Xaltis: "While those two fight it out, it's left to me to let you all know that Chapter XIII should be up sooner than later since LoneStar has all this time on his hands now. Hopefully he doesn't waste it and actually writes something, but in the meantime, hope you all enjoyed this last chapter. Be sure to review with comments, questions, suggestions, whatever. Salus in Lux Lucis!"_


	13. The Organization?

_Talis: "It's been an entire year, LoneStar. How do you feel?"_

_LoneStar: "Like I haven't gotten as much done as I wanted to, there's far more of this story that needs to be told, and I haven't even scratched the surface yet."_

_Kalin: "Remember how we all though you'd have posted Chapter XIII ages ago and then you didn't?"_

_Xaltis: "And then you went on vacation, athen you had to get ready for college, and then you actually started, and nothing else mattered but work, work, work..."_

_LoneStar: "And one year later, I'm now done with my freshman year at Johns Hopkins. Imagine that, huh?"_

_Talis: "Who'd've thought good ol' LoneStar'd get through a year of college without us, eh, guys?"_

_LoneStar: "Shut up, you. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't forget you, any of you, while I was away from all this. Yeah I didn't write as much, but I was constantly thinking about you guys and this story, hoping for the chance to get back behind the keyboard for another installment of your saga. So now here we are, together again."_

_Kalin: "So let's get this party started, guys!"_

_Xaltis: "Disclaimer Time! LoneStar does not own Square Enix Ltd., the Walt Disney Company, Kingdom Hearts, Disney characters, or anything thereto belonging."_

_Talis: "All he owns is the computer with which he types our story, us, his characters, and his thoughts...most of the time."_

_LoneStar: "And in celebration of my return to the world of writing, here's a quote by Norman Cousins."_

"_Life is an adventure in forgiveness."_

_~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~_

_Everyone shrugs as they paid no attention to patterns or formations. However Riku offers, "OK. I get the idea that this was a Summoning, sort of. I guess it makes sense given the, um, circumstances." He points to the Heartless Pantras. "Two questions immediately spring to mind, though."_

"_Who Summoned this thing?" Xaltis asks._

"_And why?" Kalin follows up._

_A voice calls down to them, "I could tell you, but that's just not how I work."_

_All seven men look around, trying to find the source of the voice. The disembodied voice whistles then calls, "Up here, boys!"_

_They look up, to the top of one of Markos' pillars, as a dark portal opens. Sora and Riku flinch and Sora reacts, "Corridor of Darkness means..."_

"_...the Organization," Riku completes._

**Chapter XIII: The Organization?**

"But how? We took 'em all out!" Riku exclaims. Sora thumps him on the head. "Sorry – almost all of them. I forget about your other half sometimes. And I'm sorry about Xion, alright! I still don't know how we remember her now..."

"Take it up with Roxas later, not now," Sora states, placating Riku for the moment.

"That sill leaves the question of who exactly is going to step out of that Corridor of Darkness."

The voice calls out to them again, "Riku, Riku, Riku, you of all people should know that the Organization was not the only set of beings to utilize the convenience that is the Corridor of Darkness, Mr. I-once-dressed-up-like-a-Heartless-because-I'm-emo."

Riku looks up in shock, "How do you know about that? Do I know you?"

"Of course not, but I know you. And of course, you did destroy what was known as Organization XIII, quite thoroughly, I might add. They were just small potatoes, pawns, if you will. They had no idea, obviously, but they were a good test for our purposes. Xehanort – thought he could control Kingdom Hearts. Fool!"

Markos takes the opportunity to speak up, "So if you're not from the Organization, then who do you work for?"

A lone figure steps into view from the Corridor of Darkness. "You know, for people on the side of Light, you're awfully easy to talk to. I almost wish I didn't have to kill you all. Almost. But alas," the person removes the hood covering their head, "I don't have much a choice. Orders and all that." The lack of a hood reveals ice-blue hair, a round, but hardened face, and soft hazel eyes that almost betray her words.

Talis looks rather skeptical as he responds, "So you don't want to kill us? Why should we believe you? And why would you want to in the first place? If anyone should want to kill anyone, we should want to kill you for invading and endangering our homeland."

The girl pauses, as if pondering Talis' words, before firing back, "As I said, orders are orders. Doesn't mean I like carrying them out."

Kalin also voices his disbelief, "But you are the one who called all those Heartless and Summoned this...this abomination, right?"

The girl's head falls slightly and her face darkens, almost as if ashamed, "Yes..."

"But yet, you don't want to kill us," Casper adds his two cents.

The girl nods and answers, "That is correct."

Talis queries, "Again, why should we believe you?"

The girl pauses again, hands on her hips and head tilted up, pondering for real this time before responding, "Hmm, I guess there's the fact that I haven't ordered this – abomination, as you so nicely put it – to attack you yet. There's a clue."

"You say yet. Does that mean you intend to attack us anyway?" Markos asks.

"I don't intend to, or rather, I guess I do intend to. But I don't want to; I have to. Just as Xehanort and his Nobody buddies had their orders, however oblivious they were to them actually being orders, so do I. And my orders are to destroy all the Keybladers I run into in my travels. Lucky for me, you just happen to be here as well, O great and powerful Keyblade Masters." She then turns to Markos and Casper. "I figure that means that you and the blond kid can live."

Riku's teal eyes flash as his anger sets in. "And we're just supposed to take that? You're planning to kill us just because we can wield Keyblades, you haven't even told us who you are or where you come from, and we're supposed to just accept that? Just say, 'oh, OK, come on and lop off our heads, that's fine and dandy.' Well," he holds up _Way to the Dawn _in his traditional fighting stance, "that's just not how I work."

The blue-haired girl gestures to the others, "And the rest of you?"

"We don;t know who you are," Xaltis begins.

"Or what you hope to accomplish by destroying us," Kalin adds.

"But if we do fall today, it'll be fighting with our last breaths," Talis concludes.

"And don't forget about us, we're not just gonna sit back and watch either," Casper continues.

"All of us have risked our lives time and again for the sake of defending ourselves and the people and places we care about, can you really best all of us?" Markos asks.

Throughout the entire exchange, Sora stood silently, watching, waiting. His cerulean eyes are steely, hardened by the years in battle, his experiences with gain and loss, happiness and pain. No one could see all the thoughts that passed through the brunet Keyblade Master's head, but if they could, they would only be able to state the obvious. He's one man who has a lot on his mind.

"And you, Grand Master of the Keyblade?" The girl's eyes are almost pleading.

"I don't intend to fight you, whoever you are. It's obvious from the way you keep stalling that you don't really want to fight us, either. If you did, you would have done so already instead of wasting all this time talking. Thing that bothers me is, this is a Summoning, which makes you a Summoner, based on what my friend Yuna tells me of her own travels, which also means that you have to be from Spira. So my question now is, what's a Spiran like you doing all the way out here, so far from home?"

The girl visibly tenses as she and Sora lock eyes, soft hazel staring into sharp cerulean. "How...how do you know of High Summoner Yuna? She's been missing from Spira for years, almost immediately after she defeated Vegnagun (A/N 1). Do you know of her whereabouts?"

Sora looks to have the verbal upper hand now as he replies smugly, "I might, but that still begs a few questions. Cancel the Summon and let's talk."

The girl starts to tremble now. "I can't do that. Not now...they would know...they can't know! You know nothing, Keyblade Master! Nothing!" She raises her right arm and the Summoned Heartless comes to life. Its yellow eyes burn as it draws a black sword from within its chest and points it at the warriors of light.

"You don't have to do this, young one. You can save us – and yourself – by cancelling the Summon. We can protect you," Markos offers, still holding his Gunblade in a defensive stance.

Her voice is hysterical as she cries out, "No you can't! You have no idea – none – what my bosses can do to me. You thought Xemnas and Maleficent were bad? Psh, small potatoes compared to my bosses. The XIII? They were a team; they had their differences, but they were loyal for the most part. My bosses? They'd take me out without a second thought if it ever even crossed their minds that I might think about entertaining the thought of betraying them. And you want to protect me?" Her eyes narrow and her tone turns cold. "Don't make me laugh. My pain – you will never understand my pain! Now die, warriors of light!" She points her raised arm at the men, her face wild with desperation, and the Heartless attacks, swinging its sword of darkness at them, releasing a wave of dark energy that they all barely dodge.

As he lands, Riku calls out, "Sora!"

Sora flips in the air and tosses _Two Become One_ to Riku, who launches himself into the air towards the shield arm of the enemy, crossing the Keyblades and yelling "Take this!"

Meanwhile, Sora yells, "Magic!" and his outfit changes yet again to blue and black with blue and white flames adorning the short sleeves and hems of his shorts. He takes advantage of his downward momentum and casts a long whip of fire at the same shield arm, the flame striking the monstrosity at the same moment that Riku stabs through it. As the Keyblade Masters fall to the ground, the Heartless lets out an ear-splitting wail as black smoke pours from the wound they inflicted.

Casper looks over to the Knight triplets. "Looks like it's our turn then."

Xaltis puts his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Remember that trick I showed you. Time to use it." He looks around. "Use these pillars to your advantage; we'll take care of the rest. And be careful."

Casper and Xaltis fist-bump. "You can count on me." Then he runs off, leaving the triplets to take care of business.

"So once again, it's the three of us against the world, bros. Ready for this?" Kalin asks his brothers.

"I'm never ready," Talis laughs, "but together we're unstoppable, Kal, especially with these Keyblades of ours."

"You got that right," Xaltis adds, "so let's show Blue up there why you don't mess with Hikari Lux Lucis!"

Talis jumps high into the air, aided by an Aero spell courtesy of Xaltis. He reaches his intended target: the wounded joint of the Heartless' shield arm. "Memory's Stars!" Talis slashes at the wound, widening it and releasing more black smoke into the atmosphere. He lets himself fall a bit before slashing underneath the joint, making the cut even deeper. He finally pushes himself over the arm and slashes through, powering an Aero spell through with the slash, tearing the Heartless' shield arm from its body. Talis lets loose a whoop of joy before he lets himself land on the ground, the arm following closely behind.

No longer connected to the Heartless, the inky black skin on the arm fades to revela the bone from the original creature, causing Markos, who was watching from another vantage point, to wonder, "How is it that she was able to combine the darkness of the Heartless with an Aeon?"

Xaltis calls out to him, "Master! Focus!" before releasing his Keyblade and rocketing over to him (thanks to an Aerora spell) and pushing him out of the way of a swing from the Pantras. The pair fall to the ground, dust covering them both as Xaltis inquires, "What's got you so taken up, Master?"

Markos brushes some stray dust out of his eyes and responds, "She shouldn't have been able to make this Aeon a Heartless. It breaks the rules of Summoning, which means..." 

Xaltis queries, "Does this mean that there's an easier way out of this battle?"

"I am," Markos answers, "but to do it, we're gonna need to put that technique you taught young Mr. Evans to good use, if you catch my drift."

Xaltis gets up and offers his hand to Markos, dusting off his cloak with the other. "I think I understand your line of reasoning, Master."

Markos takes the offered hand and pulls himself up, dusting his clothes off as well. "Good. Then I shall apprise young Mr. Evans of the situation while you attend to your brothers."

Xaltis nods as the pair separates, Markos heading off to the edge of the pillar formation where Casper lays his trap while Xaltis runs back towards his brothers. As he runs, he says, "We're gonna need to shed a little more light on this situation. _Kuriamaindo!_" His cloak shines with the tell-tale light of the Drive transition before fading to the already-commonplace white and gold as _Knight's Evolution _comes to his outstretched hand.

"Here we go again, Eva. Ready for a tussle?"

The blue and ivory Keyblade replies in her usual flat tone, _"Let's get 'em, spiky."_

Kalin and Talis see Xaltis running towards them and take points, one on the Heartless' left and the other on the Heartless' right. Upon Xaltis' approach, he takes position at the rear of the Heartless. In the background, the triplets can hear the continuous spellcasting from Sora and Riku as well as the groans of the behemoth as it swipes at our heroes.

Not even a sword of pure darkness can deter the Knights, however, as they run up the lateral sides of the enemy, dragging their Keyblades through the dark skin and forcing light energy into the wounds that they create in the Heartless. Upon reaching the apices of their runs, the brothers, as one, vault off of the Heartless Aeon, yelling _**"Cicatrix Lux! (A/N 2)" **_

The arcs of light act like an energy-induced Jaws of Life, prying the Heartless skin off of the Aeon, causing the Pantras to release a bloodcurdling scream as the last of the darkness that possessed it dissipates, blasting the Knight Brothers out of the sky and to the ground with heavy force as well as knocking out those already on the ground, leaving no one standing, or so the Summoner thought as she alighted from her perch atop the stadium's Announcer's Box.

"So...this is the strength of the Keyblade? Tch," she scoffs as she walk towards the unconscious bodies of the fallen warriors. "Hardly worth my time. I wonder why my bosses want me to take out these weaklings." She stops at the bodies of Sora and Riku. "Eh, not my problem – as long as I get proof to the bosses that they are eliminated, everything'll -" The blue-haired woman's musings are interrupted, however, as a spinning Keyblade whizzes just above her head and she looks up. "What?"

Standing about fifty yards away from her, hand still outstretched and body still smoking, is Xaltis. "You just made it your problem." Black lightning surrounds his outstretched hand as the boomeranging _Knight's Strength_ returns to it.

"Oh ho, so Spiky here's got more darkness in him than I thought! This should be interesting." Gone was the scared woman the heroes thought was here; in her place, the conniving, scheming assassin stands, poised to strike. "Only people with enough darkness in their hearts could've defended themselves sufficiently against a backlash of that magnitude." The bluenette smirks. "A traitor in the ranks, perhaps?"

Xaltis reveals his own darker smirk to her. "No." He unzips and drops off his cloak which, after the impact, had reverted to green when his Drive Form was forcibly cancelled. "Just have some issues I haven't quite dealt with just yet." The black lightning in his hand shatters the Keyblade like an eggshell, exposing a more sinister-looking sword. With a hilt of gold inlaid with Dusk Shards and a blade of black mithril scattered with shiny black diamond dust, the _Fallen Darkstar_ seemed to absorb all the light from its immediate vicinity.

The bluenette, observing this display, actually takes a couple of steps back, out of fear? Respect? Not even she knows. However, she absolutely recognized the power emanating from Xaltis and realized that she must take him seriously.

Unclasping the buttons at the neck of her own cloak, she lets it fall to the ground, unveiling her own wardrobe. As Xaltis stares intently at his opponent, he can't help but take in the sight before him. His calculating eyes follow the drop of the black cloak as it falls away from her nearly-bare shoulders to the black and rose colored tank top that hugs the contours of her toned but soft body. Of course, the fact that the shirt is so tight leaves nothing to the imagination. His anger, however, blocks his mind to that knowledge. As the cloak falls the remainder of the way, Xaltis could see just how much of her height was due to her legs, as the creamy white appendages were clearly half of her full height. Covering only about half of her thighs was a nearly-black gray miniskirt dotted with red characters of a language foreign to him. Following down her long legs, he soon sees the top of her knee-length heeled combat boots, black and red as well. As Xaltis' eyes travel back up to her hands covered by fingerless gloves, he sees her weapons of choice, gauntlet blades coloured crimson. Her stance, legs apart, left foot ahead of the right, right arm ahead of the left, is similar to a boxer's stance and her hazel eyes remain trained on Xaltis' new sword. Xaltis, on the other hand, watches his enemy's eyes instead of her weapons, studying her clashing emotions clearly visible within them, his darkened pupils searching for weakness to capitalize upon.

"So are you just gonna stand there checking me out or are you gonna attack me?" The bluenette asks with a plastered sneer.

"Don't flatter yourself, blue-hair." Xaltis holds his (literally) shocking sword at his side, returning her sneer with one of his own. "In a rush to meet our end, are we? You've been awfully rude; we don't even know your name!"

The woman's sneer only gets longer, if at all possible, as she responds, "You arrogant little – OK, there's no harm in telling you my name since won't live long enough to share it with anyone. Xiandra is what I am called." She moves her eyes from Xaltis' sword to lock eyes with him, sealing a silent, primal oath.

As Xiandra locks eyes with him, Xaltis' consciousness returns to him and he feels the power coursing between him and his sword. His mind furiously attempts to recall what caused this sequence of events and as he remembers, his resolve is solidified. "Bring it on, Xiandra. But don't underestimate me; I just might..." He points _Fallen Darkstar_ skyward. "...shock you." A lightning bolt falls from the sky, striking the ground between the two combatants, bringing up clouds of dust which obscure each from the other's view.

While Xiandra recollects her bearings, Xaltis employs his command over the element of wind to float his friends to safety closer to the stands and hastily constructs a Reflega barrier around them. "That should do it. Now...to take care of business." He whips around just in time to hold up his sword, defending himself from an attempted aerial attack from Xiandra. "Oh ho ho, attacking someone while their back is turned? Is there no honor among Thieves?" Xiandra swipes her gauntlet knives against Xaltis' sword, sparks flying due to the clash of the two weapons.

Xaltis swings outward, pushing Xiandra, and her blades, away from him before taking a couple of steps toward her and swiping downward; Xiandra parries him with one of her gauntlets while attempting to slice his midriff with the other. Xaltis brings the hilt of his sword down to guard himself, forgetting that his hands hold that same hilt. "Damn," he curses as he feels the blood running down his knuckles. In anger, he swipes his leg underneath his opponent, knocking her to the ground, before pointing his sword at her fallen form. "Give up yet?"

Xiandra looks up at him, before smirking and responding, "You wish," before opening a Corridor of Darkness beneath herself, falling in and re-opening it a few feet away. As she steps out, she asks, "Did you forget I could do that?"

Xaltis curses under his breath in response before charging his hands with electricity, allowing it to run through his sword. He then augments his speed with a well-placed Aero spell before he charges again, aiming to run her through with his charged weapon. "Thunder Force Strike!"

Xiandra, wondering where his augmented speed comes from, dodges, barely, and swipes at his passing side, drawing blood from his side as well. "You really shouldn't leave yourself open like this, Keyblader, you're bound to get hurt that way!" She follows up with a stab towards his back, which he barely has time to turn around and parry before he is knocked to the ground. Before he has a chance to get up, she straddles his prone form and crosses her gauntlet knives at his neck. "Don't move an inch, or you lose your head." She narrows her eyes at him again.

Xaltis looks up at her, smirk still plastered on his face. "Fine, I won't move. But he will."

She brings the knives closer to his neck. "He? He who?"

Xaltis calmly replies, "Oh, no one. Just the real Xaltis, who's been powering up an attack this entire time."

"What are you talking about?"

"You should really pay more attention to your surroundings, Xiandra." Xaltis takes her momentary confusion as an opportunity to flip her over, holding her down. "Now, X!"

Twenty yards away, the real Xaltis, brow furrowed in concentration, holds a ball of black lightning over his head. The two Xaltis figures say as one, "Told you I might shock you. Spherical Shockwave!" He throws the ball towards the prone pair of combatants, even as Xiandra struggles to break free of the hold the clone has on her.

"Damn it! How did you get one over on me? I'm the Mistress of Deception!" she yells as she struggles futilely.

The clone looks down at her. "Lucky break, I guess. You were overconfident, and so you didn't expect me to have any tricks up my sleeve. Too bad for you that I did. Now I think you might wanna brace yourself, 'cuz this is gonna hurt." The ball of lightning strikes the two, sending peals of electricity running through the two of them. The X-Clone, being just that, was not affected at all, but Xiandra was not so lucky. Her body convulses as she lets out a shriek of pain that continues for about thirty seconds.

The weakened Xiandra can no longer hold on to the Summoning, which was pointless at this juncture anyway, so it fades. Residual shocks cause her body to jerk as Xaltis walks towards her. He points his sword down at her face. "Do you concede?"

The self-proclaimed Mistress of Deception attempts another cold sneer, but it only comes out as a grimace due to the pain of the electricity that coursed through her. Heavily breathing, she answers, "Yes...yes I...concede."

"Now leave this place, and never return. If I ever see you here again, I will not hesitate to eliminate you as you attempted to do to us."

Contrary to her earlier demeanor, she manages a weak smile. "You won't get the chance, Keyblader. I wasn't joking about my bosses, but no matter. The price of failure is what I deserve..." As she completes her statement, she opens a Corridor of Darkness beneath herself and falls through.

Xaltis releases his clone and then falls to the ground in exhaustion, his sword returning to the ether.

_~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~_

A/N 1: Did anyone play FFX-2? I know it was mostly fanservice, but it had a plot...sorta.

A/N 2: Latin for "Scar of Light"

_~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~_

_Talis and Kalin: "Whoa...*look at Xaltis*"_

_Xaltis: "What?"_

_Sora: "I have to admit, that was intense."_

_Riku: "Agreed. What's the big idea knocking us all out though, LoneStar?"_

_LoneStar: "I had to do something to give Xaltis his piece. I can't have you and Sora take all the big battles. Yes you're Keyblade Masters, but this is the Knights' story."_

_Xaltis: "I appreciate it, LoneStar."_

_Talis: "You would. Especially since you got all up close and personal with Ms. Blue-hair. Got a new crush, X?"_

_Xaltis: **flat tone** "Shut up before I make you."_

_LoneStar: "Break it up, you two. To all my readers out there, I hope this chapter was to your liking. It's the first one in a while that I've posted almost from scratch, so constructive criticisms are always welcome. Also, I'd like to know what you all think of the new character, Xiandra. Do you want her back, or shall she be a one-time character? I like her, but then again, she is my OC. As always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading! Salus in Lux Lucis!"_


	14. Say Kori for Adventure

_LoneStar: "So here we are, guys. Chapter XIV. Imagine that, we've already been through so much in only 14 chapters!"_

_Talis: "And the story has even gone full swing yet, either!"_

_Xaltis: "When are we gonna get to traveling?"_

_Riku: "Oh calm down, X. You sound like me when I was a kid. Always ready to leave. Be patient; trust me."_

_Xaltis: "Well, I've had 4 extra years of waiting, so I think I can afford to be a little impatient."_

_LoneStar: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can wait a little while longer, can't you? Anyways, welcome, readers, to another installment in the story of the Knight brothers. Hope you enjoy the show we have for you all today, and may your feedback come flowing in as well. With the disclaimer, I welcome the Grandmaster of the Keyblade, Sora!"_

_Sora: "Hey guys, as you probably know, LoneStar doesn't own me or Riku, or anything from Kingdom Hearts, the characters from said game, nor does he own Square Enix Ltd. or the Walt Disney Company. He also doens't own this quote that is soon to follow!"_

"_You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."_

_-James A. Froude_

_~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~_

_The weakened Xiandra can no longer hold on to the Summoning, which was pointless at this juncture anyway, so it fades. Residual shocks cause her body to jerk as Xaltis walks towards her. He points his sword down at her face. "Do you concede?"_

_The self-proclaimed Mistress of Deception attempts another cold sneer, but it only comes out as a grimace due to the pain of the electricity that coursed through her. Heavily breathing, she answers, "Yes...yes I...concede."_

"_Now leave this place, and never return. If I ever see you here again, I will not hesitate to eliminate you as you attempted to do to us."_

_Contrary to her earlier demeanor, she manages a weak smile. "You won't get the chance, Keyblader. I wasn't joking about my bosses, but no matter. The price of failure is what I deserve..." As she completes her statement, she opens a Corridor of Darkness beneath herself and falls through._

_Xaltis releases his clone and then falls to the ground in exhaustion, his sword returning to the ether._

**Chapter XIV: Say **_**Kori**_** For Adventure**

At the very moment Xaltis passes out, the Reflega barrier fades with a shimmer, releasing the group of warriors from their protection. Casper wakes up first, brushing the dust off of his clothes and hair before looking around. Seeing no immediate danger, he opens his item pocket and takes out six Elixirs. He opens one, downing the contents, before walking to each of his friends, shaking them awake and placing an Elixir next to each man before taking a seat.

One by one, each man gets up and tosses back one of the Elixirs left for them, then sits in a circle. Casper, having already been awake, speaks up first. "What the hell happened?"

Kalin looks up and answers, "I don't know, bro. We were fighting that Heartless, right?"

"But where'd it go?" Sora asks.

"For that matter, where'd that chick go? The crazy blue-haired one," Talis queries.

"And where's X?" Casper asks.

The six men get up and start looking around, scouring rubble and overturned columns for a few minutes before Riku calls out, "Isn't that him over there, on the ground?"

Markos answers, "Yeah, that's him! Is he alright?"

The man in question, laid out in the same position in which he fainted earlier, groans as he attempts to rise. The gang runs over to him and Talis and Markos help him up.

"Damn, did anyone catch the train that hit me?" Xaltis quips as he looks at his compatriots. "You guys alright?"

Casper hands Xaltis an Elixir as he answers, "At the rate I'm running outta these things, we better be."

Talis adds, "We're fine, but what about you? You were passed out here too. What happened when we all got knocked out?"

Sora jumps in, saying, "I think that Xaltis' story should be saved for our conversation with the Queen. Somehow, I think what he has to say about our missing enemy has a lot to do with what we came here for in the first place."

Riku agrees, "I think that would be best, given the circumstances. The sooner we meet with the Queen the better."

"You called for me, boys?" Queen Raina appears, along with Cassandra, Shania, and Carla in a flash of golden sparks. "Sorry to keep you waiting; these three insisted on following me, and I apparently had to make a detour to come all the way out here."

Markos says, "Well, since you're here now, shall we adjourn to finally share our stories?"

Raina answers, "I suppose we should finally get to that, shouldn't we? But why move?" The Queen snaps her fingers and eleven chairs appear before them. "Let's talk right here." She takes a seat as the others stand shocked, save for Markos. "What? I've been practicing my magic in my spare time; I'm at Sorceress-level now."

The others all take seats as Sora starts to talk, "Alrighty then. Well, I guess we should start. How much do you all know about the Heartless?"

Talis answers, "Well, we know about how they're formed, from the darkness of man's hearts. And that they seek the hearts of worlds to increase their ranks."

Kalin continues, "We also know that when Heartless are formed, Nobodies are formed."

Xaltis adds, "And thanks to these," he summons his Keyblade, "we can fight them off, sometimes even win."

Kalin speaks again, "Oh! And Heartless travel the universe through Corridors of Darkness, but pretty much anyone can use them, such as that blue-haired chick."

Riku jumps in, "So far, you guys have it all right. I assume you all know about our fights against the incarnations of Xehanort?"

"Know about them? They're only some of the most celebrated stories in recent history! How you, Master Sora, Sir Donald, and Sir Goofy defeated Ansem, Seeker of Darkness after he destroyed your homeworld, and then a year later as you both fought your way through and decimated Organization XIII," Sora winces, "followed by the three-year war against Master Xehanort, General Vanitas, and the Unversed Horde! How could anyone forget all that?! You were amazing!" Carla gushes.

"Down, girl!" Shania interjects. "Sorry about our sister, Master Sora, Master Riku," she bows to each man as she speaks his name, "she gets very fangirl-like whenever you two come up in conversation. Having you here in person is like a dream come true for her."

"Nia! You don't understand!" Carla retorts, a deep blush sprouting on her face. "I love history, especially when it comes to the history of the universe's heroes, and these two are bona fide heroes!"

"OK, OK, enough about the past, let's get into the reason we're all here, shall we?" Sora interjects. "We've been searching for Keyblade Wielders all across the known multiverse in order to train them. We want to bring them all together under the banner of the LoneStar Coalition. This way, we can be ready for...whatever's supposed to come."

"But what exactly _is_ to come, Sora? You haven't quite explained that much yet," Markos comments.

"That's the thing; we don't exactly know. All we really know is based on a vision I received shortly before we came out here actually. Maybe about a month or two ago now, I think? Riku?" the Keyblade Master scratches his spiky hair as he contemplates.

"Something like that, Sora." Riku turns to the others. "Basically, it boils down to this. A new evil's arising, taking control of the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed all at once. What for? We have no idea; we just know we have to stop it before it gets out of control."

Sora cuts in. "We're assuming the usual, that the person or persons starting this again are aiming for Kingdom Hearts. What we're not assuming is their purpose behind doing so. As far as we know, there are no more sentient Nobodies running around, and no rogue Keyblade Masters either. So this evil is a complete unknown."

"_Almost_ complete unknown, Master Sora," Xaltis interjects, "I think this is where I come in. That blue-haired woman, her name was Xiandra, by the way, she talked about her 'bosses' and how they wanted her to take out all us Keybladers. That seems pretty evil to me. I think that's an avenue we need to explore further if we want answers as to what we're all together for."

"Xaltis raises a good point, everyone. The idea that there's someone out there who wants to destroy all Wielders of the Keyblade is a distressing issue that needs to be solved, quickly," Queen Raina states. "I, for one, pledge to do everything in my power to stop this evil from spreading here. As Queen of the Kingdom of Hikari Lux Lucis, so I swear."

"As Knights of the Royal Court, we must follow where our Queen leads. Of course, we'd do this anyway. This just gives us no way out. We're game, right, bros?" Kalin asks as his brothers nod solemnly.

"This is good, but you all do realize that this journey will take us all off-planet, correct?" Riku questions. "You won't be staying on Hikari Lux Lucis much longer."

The group, minus Sora and Riku, sits in abject shock. Talis speaks up first, "Leaving? Leaving Hikari Lux Lucis?"

"Yes, Talis; you all can't help us or stay protected here. If that woman, Xiandra, or whatever her name is, can come here as easily as she did, there's no telling who else can come here and get you. And we can't afford to lose you all to whoever is causing this evil to spread. Therefore, you have to come with us," Sora explains.

"I don't know if you remember, but I have a kingdom to run. You know, Queen of Hikari Lux Lucis and all that. Not just a title, you know." Queen Raina states exasperatedly.

"And of course, you will stay here with your Kingdom, Your Majesty. We wouldn't dream of taking a ruler from her kingdom, especially now, in this time of uncertainty. However, we would request that the rest of you Keyblade Wielders accompany us on this journey, receive training, and help us combat this evil." Sora continues. "Also, not to rush you or anything, but we are on a tight schedule; we have to leave to see if we can find any more Wielders as well as return to the King before he murders us for taking off like this," he finishes sheepishly.

Markos laughs, "Sora, Sora, always the impetuous one, eh?"

"In his defense, it wasn't just his decision this time; we both were a little reckless this time around," Riku counters with a wan smile.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute!" Shania yells, cutting off the conversation. "Are we talking about what I think we're talking aboutn here? That being my three brothers taking off _again_, into the unknown _again_, without us? _AGAIN? _Nuh-uh, not happening, no sirree, you three aren't allowed to leave again. We won't let you, right, Carla? Cassi?"

"That's right, sis. We just got two of you back a couple months ago; we can't let you just take off on an adventure again like that. What if you don't come back this time?" the dark-haired girl adds, "Right, Cassi?"

The blonde-haired woman contemplates all the statements she's heard in this conversation. "Actually, ladies, I'm inclined to agree with their decision if they do decide to take off with the Keyblade Masters. Hear me out before you go crazy," she adds hastily, noticing the twins preparing to raise a riot. "Look, your brothers just recently found out they're Wielders of some of the most powerful weapons in the universe and now have to fight an unknown evil with them. Fate not only hands them allies, but some of the strongest, as well as master users of the same weapons they have. If I were them, I'd jump at this opportunity in a heartbeat," Cassandra speaks passionately.

Xaltis turns to his best female friend. "Cassi..."

Cassandra walks over to Xaltis and ruffles his hair. "You listen to me, X. You and your brothers are basically getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here. Don't throw it away just because you're worried about us. Trust me, we'll be fine. You know us all better than that. You just make sure you come back in one piece. Only I'm allowed to rip you to shreds, you got that?"

Xaltis smiles and gives a mock salute. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am! We shall return safely upon completion of our training and adventure, ma'am!"

"I guess we're decided. We're in, Master Sora!" Talis states.

Kalin adds, "We're all in, the Knight Brothers ride again!"

"Since we're all decided, let's prepare, shall we? We have a Gummi Ship to expand, Riku." Sora looks at the gang. "What say we meet up in about three hours or so for departure?"

"Sounds good, Master Sora. We'll be there," Xaltis states confidently. "See you in three hours!"

"Alright then. Later!" Sora presses a button on his right arm's gauntlet and he and Riku disappear in a beam of light.

"How did he do that and where can I get one?" Talis asks to no one in particular, his brothers and Casper smiling excitedly along with him.

"Boys and their toys," the Queen comments in a playfully condescending manner. "Shall we, ladies?" She rise from her chair and gestures to the other three women in the area. "Time to prepare for your brothers' departure."

The three ladies stand in unison and respond, "Yes ma'am!"

"Later, boys, Don't get lost getting ready now!" With another snap of her fingers, the quartet of women disappears.

"Welp, that's our cue. Back to the garage, guys, we gotta pack!" Kalin states. "Last one back's a rotten egg!" He summons his hoverboard to his waiting hand and takes off before the others can blink or even get a word in.

"Did...did that just happen?" Xaltis asks, confused.

"I believe it did, X. But as he said, last one back's a rotten egg, and I for one sure ain't stinky!" Talis jumps out of his seat and runs to his motorbike, straddling it and revving the engine in one fluid motion. "See ya, rotten egg!" he yells as he takes off.

"Hey! No fair!" Xaltis stes for a bit before summoning his own hoverboard and taking off after his brothers with the boost of a whispered "Aerora" spell.

"Guess I'd better get ready as well," Casper says, watching his friends ride off.

"You're leaving as well, Evans?" Markos queries.

"Of course! Can't leave the universe in the hands of those three without someone to keep them in line!"

"And you're gonna do that? You?" Markos counters with a smirk.

Casper sputters for a bit before answering, "Hey! I'm pretty grounded – sort of!"

Markos smiles and pats Casper on the back. "You're right, you're right. Run along, then; go get yourself together."

"Onward and outward!" Casper then mutters "Haste!" and runs out of the stadium.

Markos, alone again, laughs heartily as he watched his former apprentices take off in various manners. "Oh the multiverse is in for it now! Heavens help them! Heavens help us all!"

_~~~~~Three hours later~~~~~_

The gang re-convenes at the castle gates, Sora and Riku standing side-by-side facing towards the castle, with everyone else facing them.

"You guys all ready?" Sora asks.

"All packed, but not all ready, Master Sora," Kalin answers, slinging his pack over his back before turning to the Queen. "Your Majesty." He, his brothers, and Casper face Queen Raina and bow as Kalin speaks for them. "We swear that, as citizens of Hikari Lux Lucis first, we will uphold the laws of this our homeland in every place that we visit as ambassadors of our home in parts unknown. We swear to defend the honour of Hikari Lux Lucis and her people with our lives." They all bow a second time. "And, Your Majesty?" he starts with a smile, "take care of yourself while we're gone?"

"Always, Sir Kalin. You do the same," Raina answers.

"Your Highness, I know I've only recently returned to your service but I swear that I'll - " Xaltis begins.

"Yes, Sir Xaltis, I know. And I want you to know that you will be sorely missed as well. Keep strong and never let the darkness consume you. You told me that it is your strength, so use it wisely."

Xaltis bows. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, I'll make sure to keep these three bozos from screwing up too badly," Casper says.

"And what happens when you screw up, Mr. Evans?" Raina asks playfully.

"Uh...well..." Casper flounders.

"I'm simply joking, Casper. Take care of them, and yourself," Raina says with a smile.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will."

Talis walks up to her, scratching the back of her head. "Umm, I know we never really cleared the air or anything when I got back and then the crazy crap with the Births happened and things got in the way but - "

He gets cut off as Raina tackles him with a tight bear hug, her face buried in the crook of his neck. "You come back safe, you hear me, Talis Knight? You come back alive and safe, or so help me, I'll hunt down whoever had the audacity to kill you and destroy them in every possible way I know, then follow you to the Farplane so I can kill you again myself, You hear me?" Tears begin to fall near the end of her impromptu impassioned speech. "You're the best friend I have in this world and I need you alive and safe, OK?"

Talis holds the Queen, no, his best friend. "No worries, Rai. I'll be back in no time, safe and sound, you'll see! So keep your head up high and run this Kingdom like the badass I know you can be. Don't forget, you've got my sisters, Cassi, and Markos to help you out; you got this!"

They separate and the Queen nods, Talis' words resonating deep in her heart.

Talis then turns to his sisters. "As for you two, come give your big brothers a hug, huh?"

Carla and Shania double-team Talis, Kalin and Xaltis joining the hug quickly after while Casper and Cassandra share their own goodbyes.

"You take care, sis. Don't destroy this place while I'm gone," the blond man jokes.

"And you don't destroy the multiverse while you're gone either!" the equally blonde woman returns. "Take care of him, will ya, Cas?"

Casper winks before answering, "Who, your boyfriend over there? No problem, I'll make sure he pines only for you our entire time away from here, Cassi. Anything for my big sis!"

She blushes and smacks him upside the head, and angry look on her face. "Why you...I'll kill you in your sleep, little brother!" She can barely hold her angry face for long and dissolves into laughter before embracing her brother again. "Really though, be safe, Cas. I only have one of you. Plus, Mom and Dad would kill me if you went and died out there."

"Me? Die out there? Not a chance!" Casper answers confidently. "Take care of Her Majesty, Cassi. She's got a lot on her plate, being Queen of a Crossworld like ours."

"Guess we both have a job to do, eh, Cas? It seems like it always falls on us Evans to watch out for others, doesn't it?" Cassandra says with a laugh.

"Would we have it any other way though, Cassi?"

"No, probably not."

Markos approaches the group. "So, heading off now, boys?"

The quartet separate from the girls and stand at attention. "Master Markos, sir!"

Markos lets loose his trademark hearty laugh. "No need for formalities from you four, you graduated ages ago!"

The four men visibly relax as Markos continues, "Remember all you've learned over the years here, take your newfound abilities in stride, and above all, don't forget that none of you is alone out there. Each of you has the others as well as all of us here on Hikari Lux Lucis for support. So stay strong, learn all you have to, and beat those villains, alright?"

The four stand to attention once more and salute. "Sir!"

Markos, chuckling, returns their salute. "Dismissed!" He then steps back to stand alongside the Queen as the four men turn towards Sora and Riku.

"So, ready to go, guys?" Riku asks them. "Once we leave, you won't be coming back that often, if at all, for a while, so make sure you have everything."

"Oh!" Talis exclaims. "I knew I forgot something! Be right back!" He runs down the path to their garage/home while the others look on in mirth.

While the others break off into mindless chatter, Talis reaches the garage. "Never thought I'd get the chance to use this function, but it may come in handy someday soon." He feels along the side wall until he finds the hidden panel he installed. "Let's hope this works!" He pushes the panel into the wall and takes three steps back then intones, "Activate Executable F-OL4!"

Once he finishes his statement, the garage begins to fold in on itself, the walls disassembling and reassembling themselves until the entire building is no more than a 4" * 4" * 4" cube. "Perfect!" He walks over to the cube, which sits in the center of the lot where the garage once stood, picks it up, and places it into his backpack. "Now none of us will have to worry about having forgotten anything!"

He treks on back up the path to the castle gates with a bounce in his step. Upon reaching the others, he flashes a smile and proclaims, "Ready to go!" 

"Right then. If you'll all step closer to me, I'll take us up," Sora announces, gesturing with his arms.

"Wait...are we gonna go up in that beam thing?" Talis asks excitedly as he acquiesces.

"Yes, Talis, we are," Riku answers with a laugh, "now gather 'round!"

The four warriors move closer to the Keyblade Masters and wave goodbye to their siblings and friends while Sora presses the button on his gauntlet bringing them up to their recently-expanded Gummi Ship, specifically to the cockpit area.

"Welcome, gentlemen, to the Gummi Ship _Korineia_. She may not look like much, but she's ours and runs like a dream. We take this baby everywhere," Sora says, with a dreamy smile on his face.

"Calm down, Sora, she's a ship. Wouldn't want Kai to get jealous, would we?" Riku points out with a laugh. He turns to the others and says, "If any of you wants to get the big specs on this ol' girl, Chip and Dale can help you with that when we get to Disney Castle. One thing I do remember, though, is Chip saying something about upgrading our warp drive to an NX5 or something like that," he adds.

"You've got the new NX5? Where's your engine room? Can I see it?!" Talis asks, getting as excited as he usually gets when technology is involved.

"I'll take you to it, Talis. I meant to do a last-minute check back there anyhow. Give the others the tour, wouldya, Riku?"

Riku stands at attention and mock salutes. "Yes, Cap'n Sora, sir!" He laughs.

Sora gives Riku a smirk of his own before walking through an archeway leading to the main corridor, Talis in tow.

Riku turns to the other three. "Well, guys, Sora says I should give you all the Grand Tour of out humble home away from home and I'm inclined to agree. Anything you would like to know first before we begin?"

"I think the question on all of our minds is, what exactly is a Gummi Ship?" Casper asks, the nods from the other two men affirming that the question truly was shared.

"Perfect question!" Riku exclaims as he claps his hands together and starts them on their walk. "A Gummi Ship is a relatively new form of interdimensional travel built from material we know only as Gummis, due to the nature of the material's texture before the bonding process. Gummi is, according to legend, formed from the remnants of destroyed stars, so a Gummi Ship is, in all senses of the word, a starship. Gummi Ships can literally take any form one wishes due to the malleability of the material, which also makes them easy to take apart, re-fit, and maintain. Most Challenger-class ships, like _Kori_ here, are outfitted for long-range travel and slight offensive capabilities, as your friend and brother Talis is most likely learning from Sora at this very moment. Most Gummi Ships are also outfitted with a warp drive, allowing for speedier travel between worlds. In fact, I think we'll probably use ours to get back to Disney Castle. To give you guys an idea of how useful warp drives are, I'll tell you up front that a non-warp trip back to Disney from here would generally take about two weeks."

"You've mentioned Disney Castle a couple of times now. What is Disney Castle?" Kalin asks.

"Oh! How foolish of me!" Riku stops their mini-tour group in front of a door marked 'SIM ROOM'. "You see, Disney Castle, Disney Town, and the surrounding villages and world known as the Disney Kingdom are ruled by none other than Sir Mickey Mouse, Master KNiGHT of the Keyblade Order of the LoneStar and Ambassador to the United Federation from the Disney Universe."

As the three guests voice their various exclamations of surprise, the ship starts shaking a bit beneath them. "Looks like Sora started her up! We'll continue this tour once we're in warp, but we've gotta get you all to some seats before the warp jump. Let's go!"

Riku leads the trio back to the cockpit area, where they meet Sora and Talis deep in conversation over the controls. Sora looks up at Riku and says, "Hope you don't mind, bro, but I'm gonna let Talis run through take-off protocols this time."

Riku raises his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "Go for it! He should get to learn how to use one of these since Mick'll probably give these four one of their own."

"You think he would?" Xaltis queries.

"Definitely!" Sora answers. "Especially if you'll be fighting alongside us for a while. Now, let's get to take-off. Everyone take a seat."

Seven chairs rise from the floor as Sora speaks. "Buckle in for safety! _Kori_, honey? This is Captain Sora speaking. Would you be a dear and run all pre-flight checks, please?" To everyone else, he mentions, "She likes it when you speak politely."

A feminine voice sounds over the intercom and says, "It would be my pleasure, Captain. And may I say congrats on another successful mission!"

"Thank you very much, _Kori_. Also, just to let you know, my new friend Talis would like to run take-off tonight, is that OK with you?"

"Of course, Captain; as long as he knows what he's doing, I'm fine with it! Thank you for letting me know so I wouldn't be rude!" A scanner appears and take retinal scans of the newcomers. "Greetings, Talis, Kalin, Casper, and Xaltis, and welcome to me, _Korineia Challenger_, the flagship of the _Challenger_ fleet. Please feel free to think of me as home as long as you are within my hull and definitely ask me questions as well," the cheerful voice continues, "Pre-flight checks are complete, sir!"

"Awesome, _Kori_! Talis, take it from here!" Sora says.

"Hello, _Kori_! Engage primary thrusters and prime NX5, please!" Talis says.

"You got it, Talis! Primary thrusters engaged!" The ship begins to move forward and upward to the sky while Talis grabs the controls.

"Engage secondary thrusters and unfold jet wings, _Kori_, would you please?" Talis tells the ship.

"Secondary thrusters engaged and jet wings open. NX5 warp drive is also primed, shall I engage?"

"Please do, _Kori_. Engage warp drive on my mark. Ten..." the ship climbs through the atmosphere as Talis counts down to "...one, engage, _Kori_!"

"Warp drive engaged!" If anyone were to look at the ship from the outside, it would appear to elongate impossibly before contracting and then rocketing off into warp space. "ETA to Disney Castle 48 hours, everyone!" _Kori _calls out to the passengers.

"Thank you, _Kori_," Talis answers, adding, "Activate auto-pilot," before swiveling around in his chair. "The NX5 at work! Two days? That's incredible!" A big smile is plastered on his face. "Thanks for letting me do that."

"Not a problem, Talis. I was happy to do it. Plus, you seemed right at home!" Sora responds.

"Yeah, because he's been dreaming of piloting a starship forever!" Xaltis adds with a snort. "He used to run through pre-flight checks all the time when we would play games as kids!"

"Oh really? Well, I hope piloting _Kori_ will be everything you dreamt of. While we're in warp, why don't we get back to that tour?" Sora comments. "Where were you guys?"

"I had just gotten them to the SIM ROOM before we had to get to the cockpit, so how's about we show them that?"

"Sounds good to me! Shall we, gentlemen?"

The four Hikari Lux Lucis citizens nod their assent and the six men retrace their steps, reaching the SIM ROOM in no time at all.

"Welcome, guys, to the simulation room. Behind this door is a virtual reality environment that has recordings of every fight we've ever faced, separately or together. Any and all of these fights can be re-enacted due to the special software we have, so anyone can experience the fights the same way we did," Sora says.

"There's even a spectators' room on the side, where people can watch as the fighters in the simulation work," Riku adds. "So. Who wants to watch Sora and I re-enact one of our favorite battles together?"

The Knights and Casper all raise their hands within seconds and Riku, with a laugh, directs them to the next door, after which he says, "Prepare to be surprised."

Sora turns to his best friend and says, "It's been a long time since we re-enacted this one. Still gonna lose?"

Riku laughs, "Of course; that's technically how it happened, didn't it?"

Sora laughs along with him, "Yup, just making sure _you_ remember that!"

Riku shoves him playfully and says, "Get in there, you. _Kori_, could you activate Program Sim CO-RR4?"

The sentient ship's voice rings out above them in response, "Of course, Riku. Shall I run standard protocol?"

Riku answers, "Please do, _Kori_, and thanks!"

"You got it, Riku! Activating Simulation CO-RR4 with Standard Protocols. Prepare for immersion in twenty seconds."

Riku steps through the simulation room door as it swings shut and the simulation begins running. In the spectators' room, the guests sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what they prepare to witness, not knowing what's to come.

_~~~~~L~o~a~K~~~~~_

_LoneStar: "And so another chapter of Meeting the Master comes to a close, as always with a bit of a cliffy. What is in store for our heroes?"_

_Talis: "Learning about the Keyblade Masters, I imagine."_

_Kalin: "Oh, and getting to meet the King! Still can't believe he's a mouse."_

_Xaltis: "Mouse or not, he's still a King, and deserves respect, especially being a Keyblade Wielder himself."_

_LoneStar: "Good advice, X. Now to all of you out there reading, I hope this story is still keeping you interested, but I can't know unless you tell me, so please revi__ew so I can know what I can do better in telling these guys' story. Also before I forget, I still need someone willing to draw out a cover page for this story. Anyone interested, please PM me for details. I'll be sure to give credit and maybe even a guest __appearance in this or one of my other stories. Thanks, and salus in lux lucis!"_


End file.
